Check out your wallet.

The complete incompetence of the Bush administration has been demonstrated once again. This time in an unexpected place. The Five Dollar bill.

The treasury department has royally screwed up. As you may already know, there's a new redesign of the five dollar bill that's scheduled to be released next week. Now, this was announced months and months ago, and this is not the screw-up. What was the screw-up is that they  were supposed to be, and ARE series 2006 but earlier in the year, another five, with the old design (on an unrelated note, I got an OLD OLD design series 1985 in change the other day) came out with the current secretary of the treasury and a series date of 2006.

Now the reason that there are series in the first place is to distinguish changes in design. Back in the day, major changes were given new dates, and minor changes, such as the change in treasurer or treasury secretary, were given a letter.

one new signature, letter, two new signatures, a new series. Change in design, such as adding "In God We Trust", also new series.

In 1985, there were some minor changes in design, web press or something like that, when James Baker appointed himself secretary of the treasury [long story, very political], and ever since then, a new treasury secretary got a new series. A new treasurer only got a letter.

Now when they started with the new DRASTIC [and needed] redesigns, the new bills got new series, fine. Series 2004s and 2001s were made simultaniously.

However, when the new Tens came out a couple of years back, they had the series 2004A on them. There WERE no series 2004 Tens made. The treasury department made some weird excuse I forget exactly. Continuity or something.

Now the new fives have the same series date as the old ones. This is more proof of incompentence by the Bush administration. If they were going to have the 2006 date as a series for the new one, fine. but why have the OLD design with the exact same series date on it? It makes no sense at all, the dates are supposed to denote when the last major change in the note was made. New DESIGN, new series.

Jeez!

•  tip jar

  fives would be nice.

  by YoursTruly on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:31:30 AM PDT

  •  add another one to the pile

    Funny McCain Pics archive updated regularly

    by InsultComicDog on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:39:58 AM PDT

    •  Can you imagine sending an ex-President

      GWB to anywhere as an goodwill ambassador for the USA?  

      The guy will be soooooo ignored he will be invisible to every person on the planet unless he does really stupid  stuff after he leaves office (which is highly likely.)

      by twinpeaks on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:51:52 AM PDT

      •  Send 'im to the Afghan/Pakistan border...

        I'm sure he'd get noticed there.

        by watercarrier4diogenes on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:49:00 PM PDT

•  Well I wonder if this could have anything

  to do with the decision to obscure the Fed's money moves by removing M3 money supply figures from their reporting.

  Sounds like shenanigans to me, like they printed money a while back but hid the fact, used it for their own purposes before adding it into the official circulation or something.

  I love for an economist to explain why this is a silly idea -- it probably is -- but I'm having serious trust issues with uncle Fed.  No pun intended.

  by spotDawa on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:44:05 AM PDT

  •  Yeah, that was a gem of a move.

    Sometimes I think they do everything as opaquely as possible because they know how much they're fucking up (intentionally, as often as not).

    by watercarrier4diogenes on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:50:49 PM PDT

•  Since when does this Administration know

  or do anything right about anything?

  by twinpeaks on Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 08:46:35 AM PDT