Currency Collapse Stories

Michael Saylor shares examples of how currency collapses have devastated wealth in different countries.

"If you look at the Argentine peso, it actually used to be worth a dollar, and then it was 3 pesos to the dollar. Today on the black market, they call it the blue market, it's worth about 150 pesos to the dollar.

There's no strategy that would work if you were a businessperson in Zimbabwe when the currency collapsed. If you live in a world where you just assume the currency is strong and we have no problem with that, and stocks are going to work, then let's talk about our investment strategy. But what if the currency weakens at 15% a year for the next decade? Then your strategy doesn't work.

Most successful people are either in denial or they attribute their success to virtuous stock picking or business strategy. If they're honest, they'll say 'the dollar crashed and all my stocks are up 20 to 50% because the dollar's weaker.' But if they tell you 'I had a great year, my portfolio is up 37% or 50% because I'm a genius stock picker' - that's how you interpret the world. Is the dollar weakening or is the market getting better?"