That was breaking news on radio and TV all over Brazil as people prepared to go to work on the morning of March 16, 1990. 

Exactly 35 years ago, just-elected President Fernando Collor de Mello's economy and finance secretary implemented the infamous "Collor Plan," which included the controversial confiscation of people's savings, among other measures. 

The plan aimed to reduce money supply and address inflation, which at a monthly 80 percent rate was quickly entering hyperinflation territory.

Controversial is an euphemism: that was the day money disappeared in my country. 

At the stroke of a pen, everybody became equally poor, unable to pay for daily necessities. Well, not really, but it was just as dramatic. And there was nothing anyone could do.

(Editor's note: Possibilities like this are why I recommend keeping some of your savings in precious metals in your physical possession.)

The context

The 1970s and 1980s were a period of worldwide stagflation, a dreadful combination of low or negative growth, high inflation, and widespread unemployment. In LatAm, the 1980s are called "The Lost Decade."