Transcripts

"Last Word"-Sizing Up Money For All

SUSIE GHARIB: And finally tonight, most Americans don't think a lot about money --- and I mean, physical money, the printed currency we use every day. But a Federal court judge has thought about it and he says the Treasury Department is breaking the law by making all our currency the same size and texture. The problem: blind people cannot tell the difference among different denominations of cash. Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper money, the U.S. is the only one that prints all its bills in identical sizes and colors. So the judge has given the Treasury 10 days to come up with ways to fix the problem so the blind can tell the bills apart. And Paul, among those options, varying size or texture or using raised ink or embossed dots so you can tell the difference by feel, rather than by sight.

KANGAS: I think the U.S. ought to adopt whatever works best in those foreign countries.

GHARIB: Sounds like you're right on the money.