U.S. District Judge James Robertson gives us the following travesty of a ruling -"The government discriminates against blind people by printing money that all looks and feels the same", and "ordered the Treasury Department to come up with ways for the blind to tell bills apart. He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it."What is his reasoning?
"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations,"
"He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs."How about the cost to taxpayers?
"Cost estimates ranged from $75 million in equipment upgrades and $9 million annual expenses for punching holes in bills to $178 million in one-time charges and $50 million annual expenses for printing bills of varying sizes."The Real Effect
Brilliant. Just because one group of people is having a difficult time with something, we as taxpayers must fork in reality close to 600 million dollars to make it easier for them. Let's take this line of thinking one step further.
What of the color blind? How about the deaf?
If the federal government does not have an all-inclusive solution that suits everyone's needs, then we must be forced to endure years of lawsuits and billions in engineering costs so that it is easier on a vast minority?
I love judges. No, really I do.
