4 ms·

Man how expensive was that contractor when your art installation requires $1M in cash and all the labor to assemble it, but you can't just tell the contractor t

• krisoft 1y ago
  > can't just tell the contractor to do a new box They can. But if the delivered box meets the ordered specifications they will ask for extra compensation to redo it. That plus cost of shipping back and forth. That plus any possible time pressure around opening of the exhibit. That plus the fact that the Fed can obtain bank notes for less than their face value. (If they are for example voided bank notes. But they can also just order prop money beyond the first layer if they want to keep their museum work and their official business separate. Which very well might be easier for organisational, accounting and security reasons.) Plus nobody wants to admit that they screwed up the box order. All these factors would point towards just stuffing the box with more “banknotes” and pretending that all is well.
• dessimus 1y ago
  "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"
• kingstnap 1y ago
  Maybe they didn't realize it was wrong until they filled it 66% up.
• ftmch 1y ago
  They can just print more money.
  • eddythompson80 1y ago
    It's almost as if the art piece is a commentary on the imagined order of money between humans.
    • nosianu 1y ago
      I think Rai stones would be even better for that. One, because of their own history and usage, and two, because it is not the usual example everybody is already used to, showing that the concept is bigger and not bound to our modern society. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones > The ownership of a large stone, which would be too difficult to move, was established by its history as recorded in oral tradition rather than by its location. Appending a transfer to the oral history of the stone thus effected a change of ownership. > Some modern economists have viewed Rai stones as a form of money, and the stones are often used as a demonstration of the fact that the value of some forms of money can be assigned purely through a shared belief in said value. ... > Rai stones were, and still are, used in rare important social transactions, such as marriage, inheritance, political deals, sign of an alliance, ransom of the battle dead, or, rarely, in exchange for food. Many are placed in front of meetinghouses, around village courts, or along pathways. > Although the ownership of a particular stone might change, the stone itself is rarely moved due to its weight and risk of damage. Thus the physical location of a stone was often not significant: ownership was established by shared agreement and could be transferred even without physical access to the stone. Each large stone had an oral history that included the names of previous owners. In one instance, a large rai being transported by canoe and outrigger was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as any other stone.
  • bravesoul2 1y ago
    They may be out of practice overclocking the physical presses now that they're used to typing all the zeros at a terminal.
• wavemode 1y ago
  The cash probably didn't cost the government anything. They can just use bills that are slated for replacement/removal from circulation.
  • rmnwski 1y ago
    for them it's just paper. how much does it cost to print a dollar bill. (would you even need to print it for this project)
    • luxuryballs 1y ago
      yeah true only the top and bottom faces need real prints, these could all just be blank pieces of paper