now THAT’S a banknote
I decided when I started this blog that I didn’t want it to turn into some kind of low-rent Andy Rooney-style whinge-athon, nor did I ever want to sound like a lame stand-up comedian. If I couldn’t think of anything more interesting to say than “What is the deal with… or “Who’s the genius who greenlighted… then I wouldn’t say anything at all.
Still, what is the deal with the new $20 bill? Who’s the genius who greenlighted that? It looks like an old twenty that’s been doodled on by an obsessive compulsive and then had a peach Snapple spilled on it. Why must we have the ugliest money on earth? Isn’t it bad enough that we flood the world with our worst TV shows, movies, music, beer and fast food? “Not to mention our foreign policy.”
The coolest money I’ve ever seen was in The Netherlands “also in the running for the coolest country I’ve ever seen”, back before they were forced to adopt the Euro “which could be worse I suppose, but it ain’t no sunflower”. The fifty guilder note pictured above is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, money or not. I wish I had kept one, but I visited when I was 17 and 50 guilders was an expensive souvenir back then.
There are a few web sites dedicated to the glory of the old Dutch money. Here’s a good one.
Why can’t we have money like that? Hell, I bet I could design a better bill than the stupid new twenty. Hang on.
There. What do you think?