The Color of Money
I noticed something today as I was looking at a ten dollar bill. It is ugly. I mean, really ugly. The government has taken the greenback and brought color to it. But not usefully, like making the face look like a real face and and eagle to have the splendid color of an eagle, no, they added what looks like a dirt color to the entire bill and splashed some blood red in places. When I first looked at it, I tried to clean it. It doesn't come off.
For my off-shore readers, this is the new bill link:
$10 front
$10 back
The other bills are really no better. The twenty looks like it was sitting out in the sun too long and has one of the tan lines:
$20 front
$20 back
You know when you were a kid and you would draw a picture and you hand would smudge the section where the ink wasn't quite dry...the fifty:
$50 front
$50 back
Is the government in such a bad way that in order to make the money harder to counterfeit, we had to make it ugly? I compared the old ten and the new ten and I have to say, the old bill didn't look bad. It appeared crisp and clean, especially the 2001 version of the $10 bill.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). If you are going to change something, make it better. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola company decided that the old Coca-Cola that had made them millions of dollars and quenched the thirst of millions of drinkers, need to be "improved."
New Coke was released to the public. The New Coke had this sickening sweet flavor and the carbonation was lower to prevent that embarassing BURB after downing a can. It taste like...well, Pepsi. I always choose Coke on those taste tests. The New Coke sales tanked. In a scurry to repair the lost sales, they released Coca-Cola Classic.
Why is it when we find something that works, instead of adding to the selection, we would rather throw out the old and bring on the new?
We as Americans do this all of the time. We tear down our history. We tear down the courthouse that Abraham Lincoln actually performed law in because it required maintenance and the new courthouse is around the corner.
This is happening with the Magill House. The Magill House is an old hotel in my home town of Clinton, Illinois. In its day, this hotel was the premier location to stay in central Illinois. Now, it is repaired just to keep it from falling down. There is talk of tearing down this historical gem to avoid the costs. What really needs to happen is a hotel chain such as Intercontinental needs to come into town and recondition it into a spa/hotel. I can bet that if Intercontinental were to offer to do this, they would end up with a FREE building. The city currently owns the structure.
Did you know...
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.
For my off-shore readers, this is the new bill link:
$10 front
$10 back
The other bills are really no better. The twenty looks like it was sitting out in the sun too long and has one of the tan lines:
$20 front
$20 back
You know when you were a kid and you would draw a picture and you hand would smudge the section where the ink wasn't quite dry...the fifty:
$50 front
$50 back
Is the government in such a bad way that in order to make the money harder to counterfeit, we had to make it ugly? I compared the old ten and the new ten and I have to say, the old bill didn't look bad. It appeared crisp and clean, especially the 2001 version of the $10 bill.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). If you are going to change something, make it better. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola company decided that the old Coca-Cola that had made them millions of dollars and quenched the thirst of millions of drinkers, need to be "improved."New Coke was released to the public. The New Coke had this sickening sweet flavor and the carbonation was lower to prevent that embarassing BURB after downing a can. It taste like...well, Pepsi. I always choose Coke on those taste tests. The New Coke sales tanked. In a scurry to repair the lost sales, they released Coca-Cola Classic.
Why is it when we find something that works, instead of adding to the selection, we would rather throw out the old and bring on the new?
We as Americans do this all of the time. We tear down our history. We tear down the courthouse that Abraham Lincoln actually performed law in because it required maintenance and the new courthouse is around the corner.
This is happening with the Magill House. The Magill House is an old hotel in my home town of Clinton, Illinois. In its day, this hotel was the premier location to stay in central Illinois. Now, it is repaired just to keep it from falling down. There is talk of tearing down this historical gem to avoid the costs. What really needs to happen is a hotel chain such as Intercontinental needs to come into town and recondition it into a spa/hotel. I can bet that if Intercontinental were to offer to do this, they would end up with a FREE building. The city currently owns the structure.
Did you know...
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.
Comments
I wish them luck. They have their work cut out for them.