[simonh]

Not disagreeing with you, but if it had been handed over to specific people it might have worked, but what happened is anyone and anyone in the local area just went into the farms and took whatever they wanted. No production, no employment on the farms, no taxes or foreign exchange from the produce -> economic collapse.

I worked for a telecoms company back in 2006 and a Zimbabwean cellular network wanted to buy our software. They had the money in an escrow account, but pulled out of the deal before it could complete. It wasn't as bad back then, but that was the year inflation hit 1,000% so it was clear what was happening.