You know, it has not been that long since Lincoln got his big head in an oval on the five-dollar bill. Why didn't they put the fancy-schmancy colors on it then? That design was supposed to stop counterfitters. Apparently didn't last long. So how many years ahead of the counterfitters are we? Three, four?
"We wanted this redesigned bill to scream, 'I am a five. I am a five,"' Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We wanted to eliminate any similarity or confusion on the part of the public between the $5 bill and the $100 bill."
Are you shitting me? Blind people won't know no matter what it looks like. Otherwise, is there anybody out there who has trouble telling the difference between a fiver and a one-hundred dollar bill??!!?? I want to meet him it.
How much is it costing us each time they change the bills to something new and improved? It's bound to be a shitload.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
P.S. Excuse me. I got carried away. On re-reading the article, I see that counterfitters were bleaching the fives and copying one-hundreds over top of the paper. The new fives will have the security thread in a different place than the one-hundred to prevent that.
Now, let me ask you...who was the designer in charge who didn't think of changing the location of the security thread for each different denomination in the first place? No wonder the counterfitters are catching up so fast.
Blind people won't know no matter what it looks like.
ReplyDeleteWell, they would if the sizes were different, as they are in Europe.
In any event, one of the common complaints that Europeans have about US currency is that they can't easily tell the bills apart. Colours help that, but the proposed change to the 5 isn't enough. Try this:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/current/index.htm
when i was living in mexico, it took a little time to get used to different sized bills (not that i often had the larger ones - and btw, i particularly liked the little see-through spot on the 20s), but that could work, i suppose. those separators in the bill portion of wallets would come in handy.
ReplyDeletei'm still not feeling optimistic about keeping ahead of sophisticated counterfitters, though.
thanks much for taking the time to comment, mike.