MAY 1, 2012
THE ELUSIVE AMERICAN DOLLAR COIN
I don’t know whether to be outraged or chagrined. After all my ranting about the lack of a dollar coin, I just found out that , oh yeah, we have been minting a small dollar coin since 2005, called “The Presidential Coin”.. However, since the general public (me) don’t know about it, they are being stockpiled in vaults the size of soccer fields to the tune of a billion coins. (That kind of equals a Billion dollars?). What disturbs me most is that we as a nation have become so complacent and so over-democritized that we are falling behind other nations, our money system merely one aspect of it. We already had a dollar coin with an Indian maiden on it ( with a peace-pipe on the back) probably celebrating our occupation and annihilation of the native population when we grabbed their lands. (Come on, they lost the damn war!).
A couple of idiot legislators had this great idea that we Americans would really embrace the concept of a coin “honoring” all our presidents. Instead of re-energizing our mint, we should just fire the whole damn Department, send someone over to Belgium & Holland to take a crash course in how to set up a monetary system. We have to get rid of our old , excess baggage and enter into the 21st century, with an updated contemporary concept of the everyday use of money. It is such a terrible feeling to see articles of our ‘design’ process for money. We start with a committee of morons that give pathetic directions to a group of artists, they all submit designs, in the appropriate lame manner, then the ‘chosen’ one is laboriously sculpted by some old geezer in the back room who has been doing micro reliefs all his miserable life, until the result is an unrealistic profile of some president or an Indian maiden. By the way, what ever happened to Sacajewa when Lewis & Clark were through with her?
We think we are being so Tre Nouveau!
Didn’t we have a Kennedy dollar coin (or a fifty cent piece?) a while back? I remember when I was doing a lot of work in Las Vegas, these were used on slot machines, probably the only possible use due to it’s weight and size. Anyway, our lawgivers & makers are totally directionless concerning our money. Why is it someone says, “Hey, look at Europe “(The United States of Europe). They sat down and hired a design group to do a complete overhaul of the system. Some groups already had determined the denominations: 500,100, 50, 20, 10 of paper, no. not paper, but polypropylene polymer, then small, light coins of 2, 1, .50, .20, .10, .05, .02 & .01. OK, they are not perfect. How they ever decided on a two cent & one cent piece is a grand mystery to me. Everyone knows they’re losers. Who needs them? First of all, we have to wrest the decisions from the Drug Agencies and get back to the $1000 & $500 dollar bill. Has anyone noticed that as the money gets more worthless, the smaller denominations our bills become?
Meanwhile, in the E.U., the chosen designer designs the piece by computer, using the latest technology to design and manufacture the product. All bills are related in theme but diverse in details. Colors are bright and vibrant, anti-counterfitting methods plus various sizes so the blind can figure it out. But most of all, you do not ask the group of potential users what they think about it all (Over-democritazation). That’s why you hire designers!
After all this, you do an educational program with a changeover date. This gives laundromats, vending machines, parking meters, buses, etc. time to ramp up to receive these large but small coins (& therefore fewer to handle). But, please, let’s forge ahead of the Europeans and delete the penny, Everyone knows it is not a viable coin.
Once we are using the new money system, I will present you with an essay regarding the design of the U.S. flag (The worst one on earth!).
WONDERFUL BLATHERINGS FROM OMAR KHAYYAM
Into this universe, and Why not knowing,
Nor Whence, like willy-nilly flowing:
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I now not Whither, willy-nilly blowing.
What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence!
Ah, contrite Heav’n endowed us with the vine
To drug memory of that insolence!
(How do you say “Willy-nilly in Arabic?)
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
We were staying in a Locando near Lucca, Italy, and as always, were looking for a good Italian Ristorante ( no matter where we are in Europe) and our concierge recommended Georgeos’. We found it next to an old chateau, (where we stayed in a later trip) in an on old winery building, divided into several large rooms, each one of which had a large medallion painted on the wall, denoting a prize for a certain vintage of the defunct winery, none later than 1885. The staff was young and attentive, especially when we ordered a good bottle of red wine (probably about $25 or 30,000 Lire). Before too long, our sommelier came out pushing a rolley cart containing all her paraphernalia. First, of course, she shows us the bottle to be assured it was what we ordered. She expertly pulled the cork, laid it down on the foil cap she had removed so we could feel, look and smell the cork. So far so good! She now lights the candle, and decants the wine into an elegant glass decanter vessel, but looking thru the bottle to the candle to view and interrupt any lees that might occur in our bottle. Okay, we’re getting close here!. Next, she pours a bit of the ruby light into a proper wine glass for the type of wine, but not for me to taste, oh no! She has to be assured that everything has gone proper before ever turning this bottle over to me, the mere consumer of it. Swirling, sniffing and finally tasting, she assures us with a nod that we are indeed, on track. She blows out the candle, pours a dab into my glass, waits patiently while I inspect, swirl, sniff, taste and nod my approval with an ingratiating smile, which sets into motion the grand finale, pouring the proper amount into our glasses. She sets the bottle down on our table and trundles away on another quest for the imperfect bottle.
