VISA, the credit card company has a new self-promotional campaign on the net, in print and on TV. Being technically quite advanced, the verbiage on the web site explaining what's up can't just be copied and pasted. So, please bear with the transcription, in case I err.
On second thought, there's probably too much verbiage to go above the fold, so let me just point out that my attention was first caught by the back cover of National Journal (Senator-elect Scott Brown is on the front) where some school teacher in Mecca, California is promoting "financial responsibility" by pointing to greenbacks pinned up on the wall. More apt than the engineers of this campaign probably intended.
What they intended seems pretty well encapsulated in the Introduction of the Currency of Progress Campaign:
Visa is celebrating how the power of digital currency is transforming lives with a new advertising campaign--Currency of Progress.
While it is not clear whether Visa is celebrating a transformation that's left millions of people with debts for things they no longer need, and that never did work well, or it's lives that are to be transformed with a new ad campaign, it seems fair to conclude that plastic is out and digital currency is in.
The benefits to consumers, merchants and governments around the world can be seen through the stories of real people told in these television, print, outdoor and online ads.
Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I sort of doubt the purveyors of plastic are going to get much traction riding on the coat-tails of the equality campaign. In case you've forgotten, stories like this:
"Real people," presumably, is supposed to distract us from the fact that artificial persons (known as corporations and LLCs) are about to spring into political campaigns with both feet. Mentioning "benefits to consumers," of course, reinforces the notion that the actual participants in a transaction (buyers and seller) are unimportant.
On the other hand, how governments, which typically are the issuers of currency, are supposed to benefit by having this function taken over by the masters of the electronic digit is beyond me.
They explain how Visa digital currency is helping fuel economic growth as well as providing financial inclusion everywhere.
"They" being the "real people" in the ads probably won't be held to account, if what they project doesn't come about. On the other hand, if one defines "economic growth" as the increasing use of money to mediate every transaction, then it is possible that the digital currency will facilitate making everyone everywhere hooked on something the financiers and preditatory capitalists are most anxious to control.
Actually, in the ABOUT CURRENCY OF PROGRESS section, how governments can expect to benefit from Visa is addressed:
It enables governments from Nebraska to Pakistan to distribute benefits to thousands in need, and provides financial access to billions of others so they too can fuel their dreams.
from Nebraska to Pakistan?--Really, what a strange delineation! Who knew Nebraska and Pakistan have something in common?
distribute benefits to thousands in need--must refer to welfare payments from which Visa aims to siphon a cut for itself, a cut the needy must not need.
financial access--a phrase to remind us of "health care access" which doesn't guarantee care?
billions...can fuel their dreams--more likely, nightmares. But, that's a nit. More important, from where I sit, is the perception that (money) currency (paper or electronic) is a fuel. It isn't. Money is a lubricant. It facilitates exchange and trade. It doesn't, like the gasoline in your vehicle, make the economy run. But, like siphoning the oil out of an engine, draining money out of the economy and sequestering it in bank vaults can cause the economy to come to a halt--at least until some other lubricant is found.
Money changers have been around for a long time and their desire to take a "cut" from all transactions isn't new either. But, under the new world order, it's our money. Its value depends entirely on the good faith and credit of the American people. Perhaps, instead of being seduced by electronics, we should ask wherein lies the added value for real people as long as artificial persons are in control of our money.
The suggestion in the "currency of responsibility" portion of the ad campaign that a lack of skills "to handle money responsibly" on the part of our youth is somehow connected to the economic debacle that's been visited on the nation is beyond insulting. The money changers and the money managers messed up. If they want credibility, let them fess up.