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Because going >50% over-budget isn't a good way to further anyone's career in exhibit design, engineering and construction. I have a friend who works at a firm
by mrandish 1y ago
Because going >50% over-budget isn't a good way to further anyone's career in exhibit design, engineering and construction.
I have a friend who works at a firm which specializes in engineering and constructing exhibits for museums and all kinds of public spaces. There's a whole industry ecosystem around doing this. They get brought in on contracts by design firms which specialize in permanent installation exhibits who get hired by the person responsible for exhibits at a museum or exhibit space. It's no different than most niche specialty industries. Even though it's comparatively small, there are still thousands of sites and hundreds of firms. People who do this specialize in it, develop long-term careers and have resumes they care about. Jobs for firms and people come by reputation and word of mouth. Delivering on time, on spec and on budget is crucial for survival. The facilities manager for this Fed building hired an exhibit space manager who developed a budget for this public tour project and then put it out to exhibit design firms for bids. The project was approved on a fixed budget and time frame. The overall budget the exhibit space manager submitted to the facilities manager certainly included the cost of the cash in the cube.
But the bigger reason no one was cavalier about just filling it up with $100 bills is that this exhibit is different because the exhibited artifact is of uniquely high-value (and unlike a Rembrandt, immediately spendable), so it probably had to have a security assessment and is very likely insured against loss (not just theft but fire/water damage etc). The cost of insuring and securing the exhibit was calculated before the budget was ever approved. Adding another 50% in cash would increase the insurance premium.
- roywiggins 1y agoIt is the Fed though, does money actually "cost" anything for them? They're the ones who make the money!
- mrandish 1y agoPer this site: https://home.treasury.gov/services/currency-and-coins https://home.treasury.gov/services/currency-and-coins > "U.S currency is produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and U.S. coins are produced by the U.S. Mint. Both organizations are bureaus of the U.S. Department of the Treasury." But even if this exhibit was at a U.S. Mint site, your assumption doesn't account for how the real world works. The people involved in planning, creating and operating a public exhibit space like this on behalf of some museum, department or company are just regular employees who report to mid-level managers with careers in facilities management. I'm not an expert but if this was a U.S. Mint site, I'd guess that the bills on display would be technically 'retired' (or whatever term they have for bills that are removed from circulation). Since the Federal Reserve is a quasi-governmental organization, I can't really guess if these bills are similarly retired or simply cash, the time-value of which this exhibit space is carrying on their balance sheet. Either way, based on the way the real world actually works, it's almost certain the cost of this cash is very precisely tracked and accounted for on an audited budget that some mid-level manager is responsible for balancing right alongside the payroll for ticket takers, security guards and janitorial.
- rtkwe 1y agoIf it's just diverting bills that were heading to be destroyed (not impossible looking at the end of the bills on the non strapped side they look pretty rough) they're not worth a million any more they're just scrap. If you were extra paranoid you could even partially destory the bills and leave only the outer edges needed for the display.
- ekholm_e 1y agoMy wife works at the Fed, and I can confirm that 1) the Fed does decommission/retire bills and 2) that whole process is very tightly controlled. The retired bills are typically shredded, and if you go on a tour of a Fed bank, you can get little baggies of "Fed Shreds." So it seems very likely to me that whatever money is in the cube is decommissioned.
- a2800276 1y agoFun fact, people who work at the Fed just print their salary at the end of the month.
- necovek 1y agoThat'd be fun, but I am pretty sure they get it electronically into their bank account — as in, no money is ever made for their salaries, just like most white collar workers.
- lxgr 1y agoDemand deposits in bank accounts are also money. As a side note: In some countries, central bank employees are the only individuals that can actually hold non-paper M0 (or MB?) money, since they get paid their salaries into a central bank account, which are otherwise only available to commercial banks. This used to be the case in Germany and Austria, but has been phased out at some point, as far as I remember. But even if Fed employees just get paid in regular old M1 demand deposits, that's money nonetheless.
- necovek 1y agoI am not disputing they are money, only that they can "just print their salaries".
- komadori 1y agoThe Bank of England used to offer personal bank accounts to their employees, but they phased it out after 2015. Not sure if these accounts were exactly the same as those used for central banking though. https://hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/strategy-news/bank-england-close-personal-banking-service-employees/100534 https://hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/strategy-news/bank-england-cl...
- doubled112 1y agoWhile not money, and probably not even real, those numbers in a DB still keep my kids fed. Tasty tasty DB numbers.
- elzbardico 1y agoI reckon you're not very familiar with the world of government spending. An engineer or artist that reliably find ways to go 50% over budget and generate contract extensions is a highly sought professional amongst vendors that specialize in the public sector. In gov work contract extensions are almost guaranteed, provided your company also have the civic spirit of contributing to our democracy with health campaign donations.