Liberian Money Commemorating 9/11 … WHAT?

Forgive me for posting about a subject only somewhat related to currencies, commodities and investments, but I just had to vent somewhere.

Last night, I was watching Comedy Central while my wife was sleeping beside me. All of the sudden, I see a commercial that features the World Trade Center and starts talking about a new commemorative currency that is “a silvery tribute to all that were lost on that fateful day”.

Seriously. That’s what the commercial said. I have never laughed so hard at anything on Comedy Central. In fact, I laughed so hard that I woke up my wife. And when I say I laughed, I mean I laughed in a “this is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen” kind of way. In a “what has our world come to kind of way.” In a “there’s nothing else to do but laugh” kind of way.

Look, I was in the World Trade Center when the first plane hit. And while I won’t go into details, suffice it to say that I was there and I have friends who lost friends and relatives that day. So this whole thing insults me. Period.  

Never mind that the currency is silver leaf — i.e. about $0.10 worth of silver).

Ignore the fact that it is cheesy beyond belief — face value of $20 on one side but the other has two denominations — $9 on one side and $11 on the other for a total of $20 (”first time two separate numbers have been used to add up to full face value”).

Instead, consider that this currency is “legal Liberian tender.” That’s right. It’s minted by a private party and is supposedly legal tender in Liberia. You know, that small African country that has been a hotbed of civil war and government mismanagement.

It’s certainly a sign of the times when a flimsy foreign currency tied to such a place is hawked on TV as a lasting memorial to one of the biggest events that ever took place on U.S. soil. 

(I refuse to link to the commercial or the website because that would amount to free promotion.)

If only Washington was this enterprising, maybe they’d get the value of the greenback heading in the right direction as a reminder to the world of what real financial strength and resiliency is all about. With or without a picture of the WTC on it.