MetaFilter posts tagged with currency

Dollar for Dollar?

jabberjaw — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:59:45 -0800

Stemming from a lawsuit that has gone on for several years, a recent Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. government must make bills with distinguishable tactile features to benefit the blind. While the U.S. government disagrees, the judges say: "The government might as well argue that, since handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask for help from strangers, there's no need to make buildings wheelchair accessible." Not all blind people agree with the decision. A link to the court decision.

Inflation in Zimbabwe

splatta — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:24:42 -0800

Inflation in Zimbabwe recently reached 160,000%. Get in on the ground floor now by purchasing a $50,000,000 bill (currently selling for 20,000x its value). Dare to become a millionaire!

Penny wise

veedubya — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:33:01 -0800

The problem with pennies.

Minty Fresh

zeoslap — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:55:35 -0800

The Royal Mint revealed their newly designed currency today. Looks pretty sharp. There is a nice gallery of the new coins at the Telegraph and

Liberty Mint Raid

Sam.Burdick — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:00:28 -0800

Secret Service and FBI raid Liberty Mint, arguments of counterfeiting versus constitutional right to commerce ensue! I caught this on NPR this morning. It seems the US Mint doesn't like alternative currencies circulating within the US. The organization in question wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and the US mint and claims that both are the cause for the excessive inflation. At the risk of sounding shrill and/or sarcastic; these folks amuse me. The basic premise of their mint seems to be one of tax dodging and they love Ron Paul so much that they released currency with his face on it. This has been done before by less.... professional... people. The Liberty Mint seems to feel that the only constitutional and moral solution to our current economic is to print money actually backed by real valuable metals. And they claim that the US Mint making money is unconstitutional despite some evidence to the contrary (scroll down on last link). I'm pretty sure I don't buy their arguments. But at least they weren't actually counterfeiting... or so it seems. Were they violating the constitution or laws of this land? Or are they patriots? hmm...

Cui bono?

Pastabagel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:41:30 -0800

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5%. Wall Street aggressively demanded the cut to stop the sub-prime mortgage contagion from triggering a credit crisis among large US and foreign investment banks and the collapse of their over-leveraged hedge funds, which ultimately threatened to drag the US economy into recession. The market rallied this week in response to the Fed's move. But there is no free lunch. Oil rallied also, to an all-time high of $81/bbl. The rate cut shattered the dollar, sending it to new lows against the Euro and to parity with the Canadian dollar. The falling dollar puts pressure on China, whose dollar-pegged currency has attracted the ire of many US politicians, causing China to threaten the US with the "nuclear option" of diversifying its foreign currency reserves away from the dollar. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia refuses to cut its interest rates in lockstep with the US for the first time ever, signaling that it may break its long standing dollar peg as well. In other words, foreign investors who currently own roughly 50% of the publicly-owned portion of the US national debt may flee the US bond markets. Result? We'll probably slide into recession anyway. But there is a silver lining: it turns out that many of those large investment banks and hedge funds were making far more money than anyone thought all along. Confused? Some background: Currency carry trade - how currencies are related to one another How interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and trade deficits are interrelated How interest rates and bonds are related Peviously 1 2 3 4

Skylines Carved Into Currency

jonson — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:37:19 -0800

Australian art student Nicholas Manion has hit upon a clever idea: delicately cut paper currency forming the skyline of major cities. Via.

Make Your Own Coin

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:39:41 -0800

Online coin generator. Sure, it's in German, but you can figure it out.

cool cash

nickyskye — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:24:24 -0800

Banknote art by Justine Smith. Alternating currency: by Marshall Weber, portraits in money by Mark Wagner, a Ganesh out of Rupee notes by CK Wilde (a spectacular previously). Beautiful banknotes at the World Paper Money Image Gallery. Unusual coins. Unique banknotes, like the 100 Million Dinara note from Croatia. U.S. currency and the pictures behind the portraits. Mildenberg's Dream Collection of Greek Coins at the Money Museum.

Alternative forms of money

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 10:46:52 -0800

"I'm all outta dollars, you got any Berkshares?" Several Great Barrington, Massachusetts businesses have developed a local currency to promote local business.