working, taking short break

[novapsyche]

Virginia Abortion Ban Struck Down

Ruling on U.S. Currency and the Blind -- "In a decision that could drastically change the appearance of American money, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Tuesday that the United States discriminates against the blind because the country's paper currency is the same size regardless of a bill's value." -- This is a good ruling.

Scandal-hit lawmaker won't seek re-election -- I think Democrats are more forgiving of this type of thing. But I might be wrong.

Let's Get Serious

Comments

[fadedpaladin.livejournal.com]

On one hand, i'm massively in favor of tweaking currency, both for aesthetic reasons (our cash is ugly) and for the equality for blind folks.
On the other hand, I'm worried about what a drastic change in currency could do to some parts of the economy. The article mentions vending machines and wallets. It neglects to mention cash registers, ATMs, etc are going to need some heavy retooling. The amount of plastic waste as these hardwares get replaced will be fairly horrifying, too.
I'm also pretty certain any currency overhaul is gonna be badly done. It would be lovely if singles were entirely done away with- I'd love to see $1 and $3 coins take over.

[pgdudda.livejournal.com]

The US government has shot itself in the foot - repeatedly - when trying to introduce dollar coins. Instead of doing the Smart Thing, like Canada did, and simply phasing out the existing supply of $1 bills, they kept making them and gave people a choice. Of course people are going to stick with the security blanket they know.

Which is a damn shame, as I really liked the Sackies. **sigh**

As for retooling ATMs et alii... expensive, yes, but they have to reporgram them every time the Mint changes the design of bills anyhow. All you have to do to accommodate the three most commonly-dispensed bills is decide that twenties will be wider and that the ones will be shorter. If you thicken the anti-counterfeiting stripe so that it's easier to feel on the bill, that will give you several different tactile clues about the denominations. Make the new ten same length as a one, but the width of the new twenty, and you have four distinct bills in common circulation.

...and if you want to get really creative, find a way to recycle all those plastic bags and currency trays into anti-counterfeiting and/or disability-friendly elements in the denominations. Make our greenbacks green! ;-)

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

Why couldn't we just create textured paper, and the different denominations would have different textures?

Or a cut in one corner, with a different shape cut for each denomination. Lots of subtle ways we could mark the money for blind folks without having to have different sized bills.

And one and five dollar coins. A no brainer.

[brendand.livejournal.com]

Why the New York Times? Yes, the accounts may be free, but I thought you were in favor of privacy, and not having to give info to anyone, no?