They are also different colours, which helps vision impaired people.

It can be done relatively inexpensively and it should be done. I fail to see the problem .

Think too about things like the automatic door openers for the handicapped, those are very useful for people without disabilities as well. Sometimes, designing for all can really be a benefit for ALL!

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As for the Gen X article, I’m with db. I’ve been with several companies and only the logo has changed. They could care less what lump-o-meat is in a chair as long as they are a means to an end that earns money. Too few companies put an emphasis on new ideas and not just working long hours, but working WELL. I think many Gen X’ers have lost their edge as their ideas have been put “on the back burner” and they have been forced to go along to get along in order to earn a living.

Why not maybe do something like put an embossed hologram in a different location for each bill that the blind could learn to recognize by touch?

While I would of course support redesigning the currency, I’d be a little disappointed because my wallet was designed for the current size of bills. Its substantially smaller than a wallet designed to accommodate non-US bills. Guess I’ll have to switch to a money clip if that happens.

For example, all denominations could be made the same size or smaller than the current size. This would ensure that they would still fit in the tills.

Different paper types could be used, which would produce different textures, instead of different sizes.

A pattern of holes could be punched or embossed which would also allow tactile value checking.

A bar code or magnetic strip could be embedded or printed on (with magnetic ink) and the government could give away readers to the blind which would check the value and tell them either audibly, or through some other means what the value is (vibration patterns? dynamicly changing braile output?)

We just spent the last several years changing all the printing processes to do color ink and holographic(?) printing (the color changes with the angle you look at it). If these concerns had been addressed at that time, it wouldn’t have been that much more expensive I think.

The mail/identity theft issue isn’t just due to people breaking into your mailbox. The postman often delivers the wrong mail. Think about this when you get someone else’s coupons. What if it is your bank statement? What about those checks credit card companies love to send for cash advances?

I don’t deal with many Gen Yers at work. I live in the midwest, where people are still into following rules. So, the GenYers I deal with tend to, as well. Having lived on the west coast, I’m more of the cynical, rule-testing, hierarchy-wary iconoclast.
Re: making bills different sizes — about time!

Re: economic stimulus. We got an $1800 stimulus check, which we used to pay off medical bills and cover some of the additional costs of trying to get a house ready to sell. Not too stimulating, but it prevented us from dipping into the emergency fund.

I have found the Boomers to be hard working to a fault & to have a lot more faith in a benevolent corporate King.

The Y monkeys have generally been easily bored, socially rude & in need of constant praise and recognition.

That being said, an X-er like me tends to match my output to the value I receive. The balance for me has to be LIFE/work.

This is how it is done here in Israel. No need to resize bills.

Considering the efforts put into recent US currency redesigns, it’s kinda silly that they didn’t take care of this as well.

The poly strip is already in a different place on each note. Why isn’t this good enough?

And, who is going to enforce this ruling? Since the Treasury Dept is part of the Executive branch, and the Executive branch is responsible for the enforcement of the law, if a judge said the Treasury Department MUST redesign its currency, who is going to enforce the law? If the judge issues a fine, how does the Treasury department pay for it…in illegal money? These people need something to do.

For that matter, what about employers that pay via check? Is that “unfair” too? What about publicly owned and federally regulated airwaves? Are radio stations “unfair” to the deaf?

Life’s not fair. People have been dealing with it for eons. Who gets to decide what fair is anyway? “Fairness” is a subjective evaluation of circumstances based on one person’s or group’s opinion. Let’s move beyond fairness to common sense and reasoned intellect.

How I Spent My Stimulus
http://www.howispentmystimulus.com/

And I paid off one of my credit cards with mine!!! And it feels really, really good to be able to say that.

But I whole heartedly believe in the distrust of corporations…and add government to the list. I left a government job for self-employment. The gov’t job was too constricting and didn’t allow me room for growth or advancement, not at least that was due to skills and hard work. M

y husband owns his own practice and he’s toyed with the notion of moving back to our home state, but it would mean joining a hospital owned practice. I told him it would be the stupidest thing he could do cause he’d lose control and be working for someone else. To me freedom and mobility are the most important things you can have in you life.

It’s not simply that we witnessed the reengineering of the 80s — we’ve also experienced the very real 90s and 00s where downsizing and rightsizing are the corporate way of life.

We’re unhappy because we KNOW the corporate types really don’t even care to pretend that they have a long term commitment to us. We are expendable. At any time, we can be cut loose. We have zero security on the job.

Thx jegan

Cash drawers in all banks will need to be retrofitted, as will vending machines, presumably at the cost of the owners.

I hear that small-town gas-station owners are having trouble with $4.00 gas. Retrofitting our currancy will be like that, writ large.

As an Xer, I had mixed feelings about Erickson’s Business Week piece. I work in a Fortune 500 company, so I can relate about what she said regarding limited room at the top and individuals at all levels using different tactics to get there, but I’m not sure that’s necessarily generational. I think it may have more to do with personality and a sense of entitlement.