Archive for August 11th, 2008

$500 Million For You to Get Your Way

Monday, August 11th, 2008

You may not have known this, but the federal government really is concerned about you, your feelings, and wants you to know that you have a say in how things are done around here– and to prove it, they are going to continue to spend $500 Million dollars of taxpayers money each and every year to print $1.00 bills.

That’s right– because you, the American public would be outraged–nay, scandalized, if you woke up tomorrow to find out that the dollar bill was being phased out, our treasury will continue the wasteful practice of printing crisp new dollar bills every 16 months (the average life expectancy of that portrait of George) instead of doing what nearly every other industrialized nation in the world has done and switching to a dollar coin.

The important thing is that you feel like you’re making a difference. Here we have democracy in action. Smell the freedom? I mean, if this were some big billion dollar corporate conglomerate, you’d never have this kind of control. Do you think General Electric or Nestle Foods would hesitate to save themselves $500 million a year simply because their employees might whine about having to change their behavior? Hell no!

Now, keep in mind, this is the same government that recently passed legislation making it legal to seize any electronic device you may be carrying with you over an international border– your cell phone, your iPod, your laptop computer– and keep it for as long as they damn well like, without reason, warrant, or explanation. Sorry. Hope you deleted those pictures, the ones you took on that “special weekend”. Of course, the government didn’t ask for your feelings about this. They simply did it, allegedly, in your best interest, and in the interest of “security”.

Wegmans, A large grocery chain here in Buffalo, traditionally put out bins for customers to shuck corn in the summer time. I loved it– why get all that corn silk all over your kitchen or front porch? Let me just shuck it here in the store, into this nice big trash can. If I get some on the floor, who cares? Right? This summer, no bins– just a sign saying they would no longer be available. Why? Because having a bunch of idiots standing in the middle of the produce aisle shucking corn all day jams up the flow of a busy grocery store. Mega Marts like Wegmans are designed to move people through in an organized and logical fashion– ever forget something and have to turn around and go against traffic in a grocery store? Ever notice the dirty looks you get? You’re breaking the flow.

Wegmans didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion, they just made a decision in the best interest of their business. Businesses do this all the time. And the corn does taste better if you wait to shuck it anyway.

So why does our government continue the wasteful practice of printing the dollar bill? Why don’t they just pull the trigger on the old boy and tell people to suck it up? It can’t simply be because people would be upset. Thomas M. Davis, a republican congressman from Virginia, supported the “Save the Greenback” Act, hoping to make it illegal to ever stop printing the dollar bill. Why? His main argument was that people’s pockets would be weighed down by all those dollar coins (of course, someone along the way must have pointed out that by carrying one dollar, you don’t have to carry four quarters or ten dimes. But I digress). Trent Lott and Ted Kennedy also took turns supporting the perpetuity of the dollar bill, but they were in the back pockets of the cotton and paper industries, who would stand to lose some profits if we switched to coins. But even that doesn’t explain it. Why does the federal government continue a practice that even the most incompetent CEO would cut in hearbeat?

Could it be just as simple as wanting people to feel like they have a voice, in a country where day by day their voice matters less and less? Is that it? I can’t think of any other reason. This government, especially this administration, makes decisions that affect your life and take away more of your freedoms every day–but they won’t save taxpayers $500 million a year simply because people “don’t like” the idea of a dollar coin?

People didn’t like taking their shoes off at airports, but they got used to it, didn’t they?