Back in January, House Commerce and Energy rejected Representative John Sjaarda’s (R-2/Valley Springs) continued effort to force businesses to accept cash. On opposing testimony from the Sioux Falls Chamber, the Municipal League, the Agri-Business Association, and the Board of Regents, the committee sent Sjaarda’s House Bill 1061 to the 41st day on an 8–4 vote. As a consolation prize, the House C&E approved Sjaarda’s House Concurrent Resolution 6004 to encourage South Dakotans to use cash and businesses to give discounts to cash-paying customers, but the Senate killed that market-intrusive exhortation.
My own inclination to go cashless (I don’t think I’ve traded green paper for goods or services yet this year) is reinforced by the latest ego-driven distraction from the American dictator, who is ordering that his signature be printed on all American paper currency:
Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on US paper currency, the treasury department announced on Thursday.
The move marks the first time a sitting US president’s signature will appear on legal tender. To accommodate this change, the treasurer’s signature will be removed for the first time since 1861.
…The treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said in a statement: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability. There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J Trump than US dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial.”
The first $100 bills with Trump’s signature and that of Bessent will be printed in June, followed by other bills in subsequent months, according to Reuters [Coral Murphy Marcos, “Trump Signature to Appear on US Currency in First for Sitting President,” The Guardian, 2026.03.26].
Changing the signature displayed on paper currency solves no problem. It doesn’t lower the price of eggs or gasoline. It doesn’t weaken the Iranian regime or reduce the risk to U.S. ground troops invading Iran. It doesn’t deport more illegal immigrants or create more jobs for Americans. Read the announcement from the U.S. Treasury itself: adding the sitting President’s signature to U.S. currency does nothing but boost the image of one man: Donald J. Trump.
Republicans used to call President Barack Obama an egomaniac on the factually-challenged claim that he overused first-person singular pronouns. Never mind Trump’s royal we or personal pronomial bluster—he’s blowing past pronouns and slapping his actual name on the Almighty Dollar… and somehow, Republicans see no ego trip worth criticizing.
But now that I think about it, come June, maybe I will increase my use of cash. I’ll even emulate Trump by keeping a Sharpie handy… so every time I handle paper money, I swipe a fat black line through the dictator’s signature and release that affirmation of democracy back into the market-wild.
p.s.: 18 U.S. Code §333 outlaws defacing or disfiguring U.S. currency, but only when done with intent to render the currency “unfit to be reissued”.
Hey, if Cesar Chavez can be erased pedophile DonOld Trump can be, too.
Gross
Ha. When I first heard about Trump’s plans to put his signature on currency I started researching how much time I would have to serve for “defacing” the bills. It turns out redacting “Donald J. Trump” from the dollar bill won’t cost you a penny. or a second in jail. So, my Sharpie awaits.