Gulag Archipelago
When I first announced that I was moving to Indonesia in late 2007, one friend looked puzzled. “Indonesia…is that in Bali?” he asked. Interestingly, living in Jakarta is a lot like Houston, without the Cajun food.
I stepped off the plane onto the tarmax on 14 February 2008, having boarded on a crisp winter’s monring in Houston, and into a swampy moldy morning in Jakarta. The arrival area was thick with clove cigarette smoke, and I didn’t encounter air conditioning — such as it was — until I was deep inside the terminal.
I fumbled my way to baggage claim, and after collectng my only bag, I turned to find 10 tiny brown men in blue shirts ready to usher my burden on their carts. Seeing that I would not escape unschathed, I selected one to take my bag.
On the way out, I stopped to exchange two of my six one-hundred dollar bills — my only surviving savings. The exchange rate was 10,000 rupiah to the US dollar, and I became an instant millionaire. The problem was that my new-found fortune was all in 100,000 rupiah notes, and most Indonesians had never even seen one, much less could make change f
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
