Word: plastic
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...bills, printed on a peculiar plastic-like material in an unfamiliar size and adorned with never-before-seen designs, are meant to replace the old, ratty paper bills that cause germaphobes to collapse in conniptions every time they are handed change. The problem is the new bills were slipped into the economy without any public awareness campaign and minimal forewarning. A week after the plastic money was let loose on the economy, the Central Bank still hadn't updated its website to indicate that the new bills even existed. (See the top 10 public panics...
...result, most people didn't know what to think when they were suddenly handed a new plastic 10 or 20 cordoba bill, the lowest denominations of Nicaraguan tender and therefore the most commonly used. "This looks like European money," says one taxi driver, in a voice hinting pride, as he twisted and creased the bill in cruel defiance of its seemingly indestructible space-age properties. Others have described it as "play money" or complain that its gloss makes it "slip through my hands...
Most of the criticism, however, seems to indicate an underlying lack of confidence and trust in the government. There are many who remember the first Sandinista government's inventive monetary policies and the resulting mega-inflation of the 1980s. As a result, some people are now treating the new plastic dinero as if it were a hot potato. "Many people don't want these bills because they think they are valueless and they're going to get stuck with them, so they're spending them as fast as they can," says clothing vendor Fabiola Espinoza. It has unintentionally created...
...meantime, vendors such as Gloria Romero, whose small corner store sells a variety of oddities, says she'll hold on to her old money and keep the plastic bills moving so she doesn't get stuck holding them when the music stops. "I prefer to save these," she says, holding up two grungy paper notes, and wrinkling her nose in disgust...
...Bronx and military aircraft at the Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport, which is west of Newburgh. Cromitie then allegedly asked the informant to procure surface-to-air missiles and explosives to enable the attacks. The informant responded that he could provide Cromitie with C-4 plastic explosives...