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Canada’s Central Bank Requests End To Defacing of Debasing Canadian Dollar
Canada’s Central Bank Requests End To Defacing of Debasing Canadian Dollar
- From “Spocking” in Canada to overtly political imagery in Greece, paper currency is growing in popularity
- Outpouring of affection for Leonard Nimoy has inspired the phenomenon of “Spocking” in Canada
- Greek artist Stefanos alters euro notes to deliver a political message
- Defacing notes is illegal and a criminal offence in the EU, U.S. and most countries
- Disgruntled citizens defaming already debasing currencies … this may catch on …
The death of Leonard Nimoy inspired a wonderful outpouring of affection across the world, and possibly beyond.
Nimoy was best known for playing the role of Spock in Star Trek, possibly the most beloved character in the sci-fi genre for several generations.
From our point of view, with our interest in the nature and history of money, the most interesting of these expressions is the resurgence of the phenomenon of “Spocking” in Canada.
“Spocking” is the act of defacing the Canadian $5 note by superimposing the likeness of the half-Vulcan doctor onto the image of former prime minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier. There is quite a resemblance and therefore not much art is required to transform the former prime minister into the beloved Spock.
The trend, like all the most entertaining forms of mischief, is apparently illegal in most countries, but not Canada. That has not deterred Canadians who for years have enjoyed replacing the unfortunate Sir with the likeness of Spock or Alan Rickman’s portrayal of professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies.
Enough Spocking was being done that the Canadian central bank felt compelled to act and said:
“Yes, it’s legal, but it’s just not a very nice or Canadian thing to do. “Bank spokeswoman Josianne Menard said Tuesday that scribbling on bills is inappropriate because it defaces a Canadian symbol and source of national pride,” the Associated Press reports.
The practice of defacing paper notes will come to an end in November when the Bank of Canada will issue new plastic notes with a different image of Laurier.
Meanwhile in Greece a different, overtly political, form of graffiti has started to emerge. An artist known as Stefanos has been defacing euro notes with images of little human figures in a painfully bleak depiction of life in Greece under austerity.
The €100 note is particularly poignant and shows an apparent suicide by hanging while bystanders, including a child look on.
The €10 seems to depict a black hole sucking people into it – a possible reference to the euro itself and the seemingly unending extraction of wealth from working people in servicing a debt from which they derived no benefit.
Other images refer to violent crime, police harassment and possibly football hooliganism. The grim reaper is shown on the €100 note and the €50 note features a figure who has been stabbed in the back while another looks on from the shadows – a possible reference to the betrayal of the people of Greece by their own elites.
It is a criminal offence to deface the euro in a manner that is deemed offensive, whatever that means. Cited as examples in law are pornographic or violent imagery.
Shop-keepers and lenders are obliged by law to accept legal tender and cannot refuse a note that has been defaced.
Stephanos defaced the notes, photographed them to circulate on social media and then released them back into circulation in the hope that the universal imagery would communicate a message across European state and linguistic boundaries.
It is an interesting phenomenon and bears watching. We expect the trend to grow in popularity as disaffection with the euro, the dollar and other paper currencies builds.
What if this sort of thing catches on and people begin to deface debt-based and increasingly debased paper currencies across Europe and the world? It could be a further factor leading to the penny dropping and a tipping point being reached regarding the intrinsically worthless nature of paper and digital currencies today.
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MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,204.25, EUR 1,082.67 and GBP 785.19 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,207.75, EUR 1,081.20 and GBP 786.14 per ounce.
Gold fell 0.19% percent or $2.30 and closed at $1,203.20 an ounce yesterday, while silver slipped 0.67% or $0.11 to $16.26 an ounce.
Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,204.74 an ounce in late Asian trading. Gold in Singapore climbed higher after two days of losses, limited by the U.S. dollar’s strength ahead of key economic data.
Outflows from SPDR, the world’s largest gold exchange-traded fund, showed a small dip of 0.35 percent to 760.80 tonnes yesterday. Monday the fund lost eight tonnes – its largest loss this year.
Market players are keeping a close watch on U.S. economic data for signs that the economy is doing well.
The European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting is set for Thursday and it is expected that Draghi will begin the €1 trillion QE program of bond purchases this month. This monetary experiment is very bullish for gold – especially in euro terms.
Gold in the late morning in Ireland is trading at $1,254 or off 0.01 percent. Silver is $16.32 or down 0.01 percent and platinum is $1,178.89 or off 0.46 percent.
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We defaced some folks.
One of the purest form of protest.
I'd like to see Alfred E. Newman on the US twenties.
"What me worry?"
Proof that you can not "own" your own money. After all, how could it be illegal to doodle on your own property?
It is not money but central bank notes.
United States Code TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I - CRIMES CHAPTER 17 - COINS AND CURRENCY § 333. Mutilation of national bank obligations Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.Some guys are defacing it.
The Government is debasing it.
Who are the real bad guys?
This is about the only thing you could do to Canadian money to help it keep its value.
Wake me up when Spock starts appearing on Gold And Silver Maple Leafs.
“Yes, it’s legal, but it’s just not a very nice or Canadian thing to do. “Bank spokeswoman Josianne Menard said Tuesday that scribbling on bills is inappropriate because it defaces a Canadian symbol and source of national pride,”
NATIONAL PRIDE EH?
THE LAST TIME I LOOKED, CANADA WAS 91 IN THE WORLD FOR GOLD RESERVES....THATS AFTER ALBANIA ....
TALK TO ME OF PRIDE WHEN THE RESET FINDS CANADA TITS UP BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE THE TABLE STAKES TO JOIN THE NEW WORLD CURRENCY.
TALK TO ME OF PRIDE WHEN HARPER GETS OFF HIS KNEES TO THE US HEGEMON.....
WE ONCE WERE A PROUD NATION. WE WRE PEACKEEPERS RATHER THAN A PUPPET FOR THE DIEING EMPIRE.
NATIONAL PRIDE INDEED!
Talk to us when you find the cap locks key, eh?
Canada has plenty of gold. We just haven't dug it up yet, and seriously, why go to all that trouble until you have to?
You're right. I know of gold mines they closed as it cost more to extract than they were getting for it, but there is still gold there and this is a big country with few people, there is probably a lot laying around.
I do agree with Harper kowtowing to the USA. We used to be peacekeepers and that is the way it should be, let those countries and the USA fight their stupid wars.
because, you tit, if the gold price hits the stratosphere the canadians get no benefit from having that gold 'in the ground' because the govt will always have to compensate the miners at crrent market rates.
unless they want to 'confiscate it' off the miners, in which case dont expect international investors to put their capital in untrustworthy canadian projects
Meh. The provincial and federal governments own 90% of the mineral rights in Canada. They know where the gold is. If the need arises, they'll create a Crown Corporation and mine it themselves.
And since you took the low road and deciided to insult me, I'll just point out that you know nothing about how things work in this country. Fool.
Well, you've got plenty of fresh water, FWIW.
But not a lot of sunshine in the winter.
Wallpaper soon. Luxury home and car sales were robust and growing just before the ultimate crash and the "Dirty Thirties" began. War is on the horizon as well. The players are the same, their ammo is the same. Why would anyone suspect a different outcome this time? Just because it's 2015 and we are supposedly so much further progressed and understand the implications of bad financial decisions on a global and political level?
There was more common sense in the early days of the last century and schools actually taught basic skills. The railroad bums of the Thirties could at least hold a shovel and they could read and write properly. What do we have now when the system collapses? A bunch of illiterate and nothing to show for zombies that are addicted to either drugs, porn or gaming full of self-delusion and entitlement. They won't even understand that the railroad can take them places where they can work for food. They will just die. Maybe that is the grand plan. Who am I to argue what's best for the country....
The US has been playing the role of Nazi Germany for the past 40+ years. All your world are belong to us.
Canada has the most debased currency in the world and that is directly because of the Bank of Canada .... 0.57 % is ratio of real to fiat dollars .... lowest in the world
" Steve Poloz, head of the Bank of Canada, suggests Canada's youth work for free"
Yes the richest folk get paid more in one day than many do all year, and the youth should work for free! WTF!
Maybe these rich should do some job sharing, 363 youth could get a years salary, and the CEO would get the 364th day's salary. There problem solved.
But who gets day 365.25?
Now why is it that no one would deface a gold coin?
Gold coins have been clipped ever since they were invented. I think that counts as defacing. In addition, new rulers melted down the old coins, mixed in base metal and reissued them, the result being inflation and substitution with foreign, undebased coins. Also, it was typical when rulers changed to overstamp coins from the previous era with their own image or symbol.
OK Bill Still in a Bear costume - Still reporting on his own FU'd agenda. Go fuck off and beat some tally sticks together and sing the praises of the Collective under Government will ya?
Still Underwater?
That's what happens when you buy the top, citizen.
Yes, Why would you deface real money! let that sink in!
I would deface a gold coin for one very simple and good reason: To make sure it wasn't gold plated tungsten. Gold is malleable. Tungsten sure as hell is not.
I have quite a few silver coins that have been dented by shotgun pellets. Not by me - I assume it got done long ago when a quarter was worth a mere gallon of gas...
Still is.
We are legion.
BANZAI !!!!
You can't deface plastic notes?
Yes We Can! Use a Sharpie.
Practical thinking and problem solving abilities such as yours are what we need the BOC, not some stupid Ukie that uncomfortably mangles every metaphor he uses while trying to appear intelligent.
Is this not protected speech under the first.
Not for Canada or Europe.
Just goes to show that you dont actually own your money
shows an apparent suicide by hanging...
suicide??? more like justice served.
If it was portraying Justice Served, there wouldn't be enough room on the bill for all of the people watching and cheering.
I think that's a good idea for ANOTHER 100-note.
LMAO!
"Note: Cheering Crowd continued on reverse side." LMAO
Steve Poloz, head of the Bank of Canada, suggests Canada's youth work for free to boost corporate profit, so the coporations will be in a better positon in the future to actually pay a wage.
He seems to be retarded or have F.A.S.
Seems like he would be qualified for Nancy Pelosi's seat.
Dr. Spock? WTF do journalists do besides play with their genitals? Wasn't Dr. Spock a pediatrician who got famous writing books about child care? Makes it rather difficult to take anything written by goldcore seriously.
Oh, and by the way.......fuck the canadian central bank.
Government skool, FTW!
"Dammit Jim, I'm a science officer, not a doctor."
Seriously, the goldcore hacks are irrelevant.
That hundred Euro note is awesome! I want one...
What a perfect little drawing...says it all. Gives the person handling it something to think about.
I think fiat currency is looking more and more obviously worthless. I can't wait until folks start refusing the crap altogether.
If these 'defacers' start signing their work, those bills may end up worth more than the face values, and become hot collectibles.
Where can I get a "Stephanos"?
If you want, I can do one with hanging banksters.
can't wait to see where you go with this one!! <3 <3 <3
From streetlamps!
JUST don't forget to include crowds of thousands of people bearing pitchforks and lit torches.
Nice...:-)
To have one with hanging banker, you only need to show the people clapping.