Re-Worked Rupiah...

With so many pressing and important matters to deal with in Indonesia, the government has gone straight to the biggest and most pressing of those issues, the currency. The government has decided that there is a need for a new IDR 1000 coin and a new colour scheme for the IDR 10,000 note.

The coin is a nickel coated steel deal with the Garuda symbol on one side and Gedung Sate with an angklung in the foreground on the flip side.

The colour scheme on the note was so 1990s that the government felt the note needed a little sprucing up and decided on a colour change.

Seriously though, there must have been a real important reason for doing this. Is it a new and improved security measure?

Cocaine Currency...

I wonder what people carrying US dollars are doing in their spare time. A recent study has found that 90%, yes that is nine out of every ten bills tested, tested positive for cocaine. So, whoever is laundering this money is not doing a very good job at getting it clean before it goes into circulation. The study was presented at the Annual National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (I wonder if that is some kind of secret code for a meeting of like-minded individuals in the chemical field, if you know what I mean ;D).

The figures would suggest that the worlds largest consumers of cocaine, the US, are still maintaining a strangle-hold on the number one spot when it comes to users of cocaine. How does money end up with traces of cocaine on it; it is either used to snort the drug or it picks it up during a drug transaction.

Funnily enough, the dirtiest cities are Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit. The cleanest happens to be Salt Lake City, which means that apparently Mormons are not too into doing cocaine or they are just better at laundering their money.

The tests on the money were done with a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. For those of you who don't know, and I was one of you, this is apparently a very accurate way of determining residues on banknotes.

But, never fear dear readers, you have absolutely zero chance of being able to go out and buy some greenbacks and start sniffing them for a cheap high. I still have a few greenbacks in my wallet from my last trip to Washington DC. Perhaps, it is time to dig around. The tests generally revealed only minute traces of cocaine.

Nuclear Power, Accidents, and Compensation for Losses -- Indonesia

There are many people who question the viability of nuclear power in Indonesia, such as Jakartass. And, there are those that cannot seemingly get enough of it. For this particular post I am not arguing one way or the other but the photo amuses me. I am merely relaying that the government has updated the regulatory framework in this area to reflect the change in value of the Rupiah from when the law was first enacted through to today. It is in that sense an amendment of a pre-krismon figure to that of a post-krismon reality.

The Government has issued Regulation No. 46 of 2009 to increase the maximum liability for a nuclear accident to IDR 4 trillion from the previous maximum level of IDR 900 million. The legal framework for this government regulation is Law No. 10 of 1997 on Nuclear Power. The losses that are subject to compensation payments are those that arise as a result of an accident at a nuclear power facility or as a result of an accident that occurs in the transport of nuclear fuel and materials.

In essence, the government regulation amends Article 34(1) of the Law.

Interestingly, the increase in the maximum liability payments are not indicative of any realization on the part of the government that there are dangers in the use of nuclear power and energy that are costly to rectify in the event of an accident. To the contrary, the maximum liability has been raised to IDR 4 trillion only to reflect the change in the value of the Rupiah against the United States Dollar.

In fact, the regulation would suggest that the Indonesian government is keen to develop a greater nuclear power capacity, as nuclear power is seen as a power that can bring great benefits to the broader Indonesian community.

The regulation has been in force since 11 June 2009.

At least one might be reasonably compensated, if there is such a thing, for their radioactive glow even though the chances are they won't live long enough to spend it.

Defacing the Currency

In most places that I know there are laws and regulations in place to stop people from defacing the currency. Usually, people are pretty proud of their currencies, I guess the money that you use is a source of national pride or something.

However, the fact that it is against the law does not mean that it will stop people from doing it, defacing their currency that is. The picture posted here is from a site that has lots of other pictures with all manner of examples of defaced currency.

Abraham Lincoln is one of my favourite US Presidents. I am not an American, so is there something wrong with me if I have a favourite US President. I am an Australian and I have a favourite Prime Minister of two as well.

This piece of art work I found interesting.

Zimbabwe -- The $100 Billion Bank Note

The Zimbabwean Central Bank has started to issue $100 billion bank notes. The new notes are in reality a bearer cheque and have an expiry date of 31 December 2008 and they are to be introduced from Monday.

Sadly, with an official inflation rate of 2.2 million percent $100 billion does not buy you very much of anything. The photo is of a $500 million note.

Tea In Siberia

Just to keep you factually amused heading into the weekend...

Up until the 19th Century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.

Simpler currency for simpler times.