The 2010 Las Vegas GSA convention has gotten a lot of publicity over the amounts of money spent on it, for items like "mind readers". Some news reports mentioned "commemorative coins", and I finally found an article with a picture of one of the "coins". From the New York Times: Agency Trip to Las Vegas Is the Talk of Washington When a vast but little-known government agency spent $822,000 in taxpayer money to fly 300 bureaucrats to a luxurious spa and casino outside Las Vegas for a conference in October 2010, its leaders had a goal: to make it “over the top, according to a government report that has set Washington abuzz. But it was news of the conference entertainment - a clown and a mind reader - that prompted snickering on Tuesday across this city, which always savors a scandal. And with the snickering, there was a question: If they had a clairvoyant, how come nobody saw the backlash coming? Arrogance, immaturity, entitlement, said Kenneth Donohue, who spent nearly a decade investigating cases of fraud and abuse as inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The G.S.A., as it is known, is essentially the government’s personal shopper for big-ticket items, like buying and leasing buildings and cars. Heads rolled there on Monday - the top official, Martha Johnson, fired her top two deputies, and then resigned in disgrace - hours before the agency’s inspector general released a blandly titled “Final Management Deficiency Report, whose contents were anything but bland about the conference at the M Resort Spa Casino. Its details - $58,808 for “audio visual services; a “networking reception where the fare included “Petit Beef Wellington and 1,000 sushi rolls at $7 apiece; $147,000 for airfare and lodging; a $75,000 “bicycle building project designed as a “team-building exercise - were enough to prompt people in Las Vegas to wish, as the old saw goes, that what happened there would have stayed there. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/us/politics/gsa-las-vegas-trip-is-the-talk-of-washington.html Part of the commemorative coin set mentioned in a report by the General Services Administration's inspector general. The "coin", of course, actually a medallion: They got part of the design correct, there are Pyramids, but where's the Sphinx? Egyptian Magic Coin
These medals are commonly called "challenge coins" in the military so calling it a coin fits this situation - even though it's non-monetary. From Wall Street to the boardroom to the government, "ethics" has become "situational ethics". Instead of a an all-encompassing guiding rule it's now whatever fits the moment and the culture of the organization.
