[extropy-chat] Vanity Money (was Bloodless Redistribution)

[gts]

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 20:31:44 -0500, The Avantguardian  
<avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Are you joking? Bloody unlikely. Susan B Anthony,
> Sakajawea dollars, and two dollar bills haven't tanked
> our currency despite their unpopularity (the
> coins/notes and not the people) so I don't see how Ken
> Lay would. (You did have to pick HIM, didn't you?)

No, I'm not joking. It's one thing to introduce a Susan B Anthony dollar  
named after an important historical figure, and quite another thing to  
start auctioning off our various currencies to the highest living bidders  
each year or two on whatever time period you have in mind.

I'm sure Susan B Anthony was selected and approved because, among other  
things, 1) few Americans would object to her name or image on a coin, and  
2) she's deader than a doornail and has been for a long, long time. You  
won't see her name in any news about corporate scandals.

> It would be many years before numistmatists would be
> interested in any of them any way, and collector's
> value has little if anything to do with fiat currency
> valuations any way.

'Fiat' is exactly the problem. These pieces of paper you have in mind have  
no intrinsic worth, in gold or in any other precious metal or commodity.  
Because our currency is fiat these notes would be worth only what the  
market would bear at any given moment, on ebay or wherever else people  
would trade them -- almost exactly like baseball cards.

I'll trade ya' two Ken Lays for one Bill Gates, whaddya' say? :)

> A dollar is a dollar no matter what it looks like.

I don't know about that, Stu. I'm a fan of Bill Gates... and Vida Blue and  
Reggie Jackson. I'd pay more than a buck for your dollar notes with their  
mugshots.


> As far as your previous objections tos
> enshrining rich capitalists on our money, do I need to
> remind you that slightly over half of the people
> currently depicted on our money were wealthy
> capitalist slave owners, not all of whom were
> presidents?

But they were our founders. They deserve the respect we give them on our  
money.

-gts