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Observations™

[[image - drawing of woodpecker]]

Funny money. Mark Twain once allowed as how a fellow's money was "twice tainted—'tain't yours and 'tain't mine." But the author's comment wasn't as funny as the "money" folks used in the old days: woodpecker scalps, feathers, human skulls, and even "bricks" made of pressed tea. In Southeast Asia, trading was with heavy silver rings women wore around their necks—legal enough but hardly "tender." Beer, a highly liquid asset, was used to pay coal miners in 19th Century England. Earlier, Roman soldiers were paid in salt—"sal" in Latin—hence today's "salary." The heaviest money? Stone wheels 12 feet high, used on the Pacific Island of Yap. The most convenient? Probably today's newest innovation: the [[underlined]] bank debit card for gasoline. [[/underlined]] What's a debit card? It's the same card you use to get cash from your bank's automatic teller machine.

Bank on it. Mobil Oil has it and you can use it now at many Mobil stations in the Washington, D.C., area, and soon at Mobil stations in California. Our system, which allows gasoline and other purchases by bank debit cards, will be spreading [[underlined]] nationwide [[/underlined]] over the next two years to 2,400 of our outlets. Before long, you may even be able to use the debit cards at self-service pumps. Using our POS (that's "point of sale") system is easy: You simply present a participating bank's debit card to the attendant, who passes it through a "card reader" in a computer terminal. You then punch your [[underlined]] personal [[/underlined]] I.D. code on a shielded keyboard, just as you do with your bank's machine. Within seconds, the computer will authorize the sale. It then deducts the purchase from your bank account and gives you a [[underlined]] printed [[/underlined]] receipt.

[[image - cartoon drawing of woman playing clarinet on sidewalk next to sign that reads "WE ACCEPT ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS" and businessman with briefcase, signed "© Orlin"]]

Stretching dollars. Of course, you can still use cash or your Mobil® card, and your MasterCard® and Visa® are always welcome at Mobil stations that accept these cards. But the debit card saves money over the traditional credit cards because it currently gives you those cash discounts most Mobil dealers offer at the pump. That's typically 4 cents per gallon—and could be as much as 80 cents on a fill-up.

Cashless society? it's well on the way. According to the National Foundation for Consumer Credit, Americans currently carry about [[underlined]] 600 million [[/underlined]] credit cards. That's a lot of plastic. But to keep you mobile, you're only going to need a bank debit card. It's in the [[underlined]] forefront [[/underlined]] of the "plastic money" revolution. As an independent marketing research organization found, seven out of ten motorists with bank debit cards preferred them for gasoline purchases at participating stations. Why? Convenience. Quick and accurate records. [[underlined]] Money saved. [[/underlined]] In other words, the new Mobil system is...well, a gas.

[[image - drawing of bank debit card going into piggy bank]]

It's a fact: There are about 90 million bank debit cards currently in use in the United States, accounting for millions of dollars in cash transfers every day.

Mobil®

Observations, Box A, Mobil Oil Corporation, 150 East 42 Street, New York, N.Y. 10017 © 1984 Mobil Corporation

PARADE'S SPECIAL
Intelligence Report

Because of volume of mail received, Parade regrets it cannot answer queries.

By Lloyd Shearer © 1984

[[image - photograph of President Richard Nixon announcing resignation with First Lady Pat Nixon and Tricia Nixon]]

Richard Nixon announces resignation as wife and daughter Tricia fight tears.

George Frampton's Prophecy

The more that former President Richard Nixon comes in out of the cold trying to "re-imagine" himself as an elder statesman, the more accurate becomes the prophecy of George Frampton, an attorney now in the office of Rogovin, Huge and Lenzner in Washington, D.C.

Ten years ago, George Frampton (Yale '64, London School of Economics '66, Harvard Law School '69 and law clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court 1971-72) was one of the brilliant young lawyers on the Watergate Special Prosecuting Force, headed by the late Leon Jaworski. It was this task force that unearthed the criminal secrets of Watergate—the tapes, lies, evasions, conspiracies and stonewallings—which compelled Nixon's resignation on Aug. 9, 1974, without any apology to the nation or admission of guilt.

The closest Nixon came to an apology in his resignation speech was: "I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course

[[image - photograph of George Frampton]]

George Frampton: Predicted Nixon would have last word

of events that led to this decision. I would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made in what I believed at the time to be in the best interest of the nation."

Nixon's reluctance to admit his transgressions rankled Jaworski, who held him in contempt for obstructing justice, abusing the power of his position and turning the office of the Presidency "into a mean den where perjury and low scheming became a way of life." Jaworski asked his staff when he should move to have Nixon indicted on half a dozen charges by the grand jury (which was eager to do so) and then tried in a court of law.

Practically the entire staff recommended an indictment of the President.

George Frampton, then only 2, put his recommendation down on paper. "I wonder if 10 years from now," he wrote late in August 19, "history will endorse the notion that Mr. Nixon has 'suffered enough.' The powerful men around him have already lost their jobs and been disgraced, but may of them will have lost

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PAGE 8 • MAY 6, 1984 • PARADE MAGAZINE

SUNDAY, JULY 30, 1995

The Journal Gazette

PARADE

[[image - color photograph of Chuck Sweeney in airplane cockpit]]

Fifty years after World War II, no issue has caused more controversy than President Truman's decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan. A pilot who flew on both missions has passionate views about this debate:

'I Want Americans To Know The Facts'

An Interview With Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Chuck Sweeney

By James Webb

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