Reissue all paper money on whim of 1 judge?

[navychop]

So now we have a judge saying all U.S. paper money must be redesigned and reissued because it discriminates against the blind. The Treasury must report back to him with a plan in 30 days. Think about that. Our currency is distributed throughout the world- you can find it stuffed in mattresses in Podunk, Russia! Vending machines, cash registers, counters, wallets, even some safes are designed around a certain size paper bill.

Do you think Congress intended that law to be interpreted so broadly that billions will have to be spent worldwide to accommodate the blind? There is no limit to how far the law can be interpreted? Should such a judge be allowed to remain on the bench, even?

Of course, this could be a blessing in disguise. Just redesign the "one" to be so small and unlikeable that people will flock to the dollar coin.

 

[Stargazer]

Maybe someone will suggest coin currency instead of paper currency as it would be easier to feel the different sizes of coins vs. paper bills. They could at least have some coins out in the market in addition to paper bills to see how well it is accepted.

 

[Neutron]

No, Congress has the power to denote what currency we use, not a judge.

 

[navychop]

Yeah, I used to think that, too. But there have been many, many "creative" interpretations of laws. Some I'm "happy" to see, some not. But I'm definitely not happy to see judges making decisions that should be made in Congress, and seeing Congress pass vague laws knowing they avoid alienating voters and letting the courts finish the process.

 

[GeorgeLV]

No, Congress has the power to denote what currency we use, not a judge.

And unfortunately Congress has the power to pass laws that conflict with each other, or the Constitution itself. It's the judiciary's role to sort things out until Congress provides new law for them to work with.

 

[navychop]

Anyway- why stick with the old paper vs coin paradigm? Why not come up with some sort of plastic replacement for both, with very secure anti-counterfeiting features? I would likely cost somewhere between the cost of manufacturing coins and paper currency, but would likely last almost as long as coins.

Don't you think such a thing is possible?

 

[GeorgeLV]

^^ Or maybe we should just use the already blind-accessible Euros. It's scary how precipitously the dollar has dropped lately.

 

[Bogy]

The question is, how come people like navychop have such a hatred for the blind?

 

[Stargazer]

To use cards may cause lots of piracy with those. As advanced as computers are gong to be (multiple cores) there would be higher chances of hacks coming out on the market and not just for cards. There's a reason why we have not went to cards yet. I hope they dont try to force people to have chips put in them in the future. That would be one of the sign of the times.

 

[Van]

The question is, how come people like navychop have such a hatred for the blind?

Ok thats definitely an atempt to start an arguement for no reason dont you think?

 

[Van]

Ok heres my view on it.

I think the judge is making more of a statement than anything else and knows full and well that it wont happen. What he is doing is bringing atention to an issue that basicly is not on the front or for that matter the back burner of any discussion group in this country. For all of our posturing and bragging about how great this country is it is still in the dark ages when it comes to things like how the impaired or aged or children are treated. There are still so many businesses in the united states that are not wheel chair accessable, look at all of the gas stations that are now self serve and take a moment to imagine what its like to be a para or a quad trying to get gas. The blind have it hard to and with this issue of money I think its very important because a blind person has to rely on the honesty of another person to help them with they're money when they are paying for something and we all know that honesty is lacking in this country as is empathy, I sure know that if I was blind and had a fixed income that I would hate to pay $20 for a bottle of coke at the corner store because I cant feel any diference between a $1 and a $20.

 

[navychop]

"...The question is, how come people like navychop have such a hatred for the blind?..."

Gee, I hope you were kidding. Especially since I have done volunteer work for the blind, and later, hired the blind.

 

[TNGTony]

So really what is so hard about making the paper money have an emossed feel or rough texture for the denomination? It really isnt. It can be part of the engraving or even better another countefeiting prevention technique? No real redesign as far as the sighted are concerned, only a "rough" feel to the numbers?

See ya
Tony

 

[navychop]

Thicker money takes up more space for storage and transport- not a minor concern. Money that "nestles" together is harder to count, especially by machine. Feel alone is easy to fake, so it could be easy to fool the blind with cheap counterfeits.

Has any currency been truly successful in better serving the sighted and non-sighted?

 

[Bob Haller]

most other countries paper money are differing sizes.....

its time to drop the penney, and make ones and fives coins. leaves 10s and 20s paper.

cut costs and more user friendly.

 

[Bogy]

"...The question is, how come people like navychop have such a hatred for the blind?..."

Gee, I hope you were kidding. Especially since I have done volunteer work for the blind, and later, hired the blind.

Then I fail to see why you are so unsympathetic in regard to a problem the blind have to deal with.

 

[navychop]

I doubt that it would help. If you want to rip off blind people, you wouldn't need to print particularly faithful images on the money, just get the "feel" right. Gotta be cheaper than a counterfeit that might successfully be passed to a sighted person. I don't think ripping off blind people with counterfeit money is that big of a problem today.

The "fix" would entail BILLIONS of dollars and affect the entire world. No matter how many years you stretch that out, it's a HUGE expense, and not just for the United States. I doubt there is any country of significant population size that doesn't have some U.S. currency stashed away in it. You have a judge that is not applying common sense- there are limits to enforcing any law. He is decreeing something in the international relations arena, binding much of the world to his interpretation. It simply won't happen, and IMO he should be removed for lack of competence for even trying. It's a ten dollar solution to a 2 cent problem- and won't solve anything anyway.

 

[Bogy]

I doubt that it would help. If you want to rip off blind people, you wouldn't need to print particularly faithful images on the money, just get the "feel" right. Gotta be cheaper than a counterfeit that might successfully be passed to a sighted person. I don't think ripping off blind people with counterfeit money is that big of a problem today.

The "fix" would entail BILLIONS of dollars and affect the entire world. No matter how many years you stretch that out, it's a HUGE expense, and not just for the United States. I doubt there is any country of significant population size that doesn't have some U.S. currency stashed away in it. You have a judge that is not applying common sense- there are limits to enforcing any law. He is decreeing something in the international relations arena, binding much of the world to his interpretation. It simply won't happen, and IMO he should be removed for lack of competence for even trying. It's a ten dollar solution to a 2 cent problem- and won't solve anything anyway.

I don't know if you've noticed, but ALL our money is already in the process of being changed. It has gone through all kinds of changes to increase security. Very expensive changes. But these are security changes that benefit the sighted. How about putting the denomination in braille on the note? I hardly think it would be worth it for a clerk to keep counterfeit braille notes on hand, for the occasional blind person. But it would keep that same clerk from taking the opportunity to pass one dollar bill as change to a blind person instead of a ten. Blind friends of mine have techniques of identifying their cash when they leave home in the morning, but they have to depend on the honesty of others in every transaction.

 

[TheTimm]

Wait. I'm confused.

If the plan is to just add braille to any new bills that are made, okay, fine -- sure it'll cost some money but so what? We piss away money on all kinds of useless crap and this actually seems to be useful for a whole lot of people.

BUT... if the idea is that all existing U.S. currency would have to be replaced with the new stuff.... well, no. I got nothing against the blind, but that would just be too, uh... stupid. And expensive. And stupid. And impractical.

Just go ahead and put the braille on the new stuff, and sooner or later everything'll have braille on it. Mmm'K?
(And to pay for it, just tax the rich and the blind. -- problem solved! )

 

[Bogy]

As the Rehabilitation Act also requires the court to consider whether providing meaningful access to a benefit would place an "undue burden" on the government, the court also considered the burden which making money accessible to the blind would place on the government. According to the court, the total cost of such upgrades would be less than five percent of the total cost of currency production during the last two redesigns of U.S. currency. This, this court held, did not place an undue burden on the government.

http://www.acsblog.org/equal-protec...urrency-violates-the-rights-of-the-blind.html

Contrary to navychops assessment that accommodations for the blind would cripple the world's economy, the cost would be relatively minor. In accordance with the undue burden part of the Act, I would like to see some proof that anyone is proposing calling in all current bills to be exchanged for new bills. I just pulled 4 $20 bills out of my wallet. One is the redesign with Jackson off center, the other 3 are the pretty colored ones. With several redesigns in recent years, I was never forced to turn in my old money for new, the old bills just went away through the normal process of older bills being destroyed and replaced by new bills as they pass through the banking system. I see no reason why this change would not be handled in the same way. Any blind person would be able to request the new bills, with sighted persons being able to use the old bills.

It seems other nations are able to handle this without a major upheaval.

The Euro varies in size based on denomination: the greater the value of the note, the greater the length. The i5, i10, i20, i50, and i100 notes also vary in height. Euro Vision, Understanding Euro Notes and Coins, a Guide for People with Poor Vision, [#35-26, at 5]. Euros also possess tactile features: each bill includes a large, raised numeral designed to be perceptible to touch, at least when the banknotes are new, id. at 4, and a foil feature that can be identified by touch; the foil feature on the smaller notes - i5, i10, i20 - is of a different shape and in a different location than those on the larger ones. Id. at 6.

The Swiss Franc contains intaglio digits and a perforated numeral that can be identified by touch. Copy of Swiss Bank Note, [#35-41]. Japan, in a new design for the Yen, has incorporated a tactile feature in the ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1,000 notes, different for each note, that has a rougher texture than the rest of the bill. Security Features of the New Bank of Japan Notes, [#35-40].

The Canadian Dollar also contains tactile features. On the upper right corner on the face of each bill is a series of raised symbols separated by a smooth surface, which differ according to denomination. The $5 note has one raised symbol, the $10 note has two such symbols, and so forth. The Bank Canada also provides (free to blind and low vision individuals) an electronic hand-held note reader. Bank of Canada, Accessibility Features, [#35-28].

Australia's dollars differ in color and size. English Pound notes vary in color and size and contain tactile symbols. Chinese currency differs in color and possesses a tactile symbol, as does the currency in Argentina and Israel. Saudi Arabia's currency varies in color and size. NAS Study at 106-112.