New High Tech $100 Bills Start To Circulate Today 302
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "New $100 bills made their debut today in the U.S. They include high tech features designed to make it easier for the public to authenticate but more difficult for counterfeiters to replicate. Those measures include a blue, 3-D security ribbon, as well as color-shifting ink that changes from copper to green when the note is tilted (PDF). That ink can be found on a large '100' on the back of the bill, on one of the '100's' on the front, and on a new image of an ink well that's also on the front. 'The $100 is the highest value denomination that we issue, and it circulates broadly around the world,' says Michael Lambert, assistant director for cash at the Federal Reserve Board. 'Therefore, we took the necessary time to develop advanced security features that are easy for the public to use in everyday transactions, but difficult for counterfeiters to replicate.' The bill was originally due to reach banks in 2011, but three years ago the Federal Reserve announced that a problem with the currency's new security measures was causing the bills to crease during printing, which left blank spaces on the bills. This led the Feds to shred more than 30 million of the bills in 2012. The image of Benjamin Franklin will be the same as on the current bill, but like all the other newly designed currencies, it will no longer be surrounded by an dark oval. Except for the $1 and $2 bill, all U.S. paper currency has been redesigned in the last 10 years to combat counterfeiting."
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:1, Insightful)
The new $100 bill looks similar to the euro bill. Who knows, pretty soon all of our currency will look the same and eventually become one currency, and we all know what that will bring...
It is the same, it's backed by nothing. The gold is gone, where's the gold? The silver is gone, where's the silver?
but all the old stuff is still good, right? (Score:4, Insightful)
In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not... green? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it me, or does it have a bluish tinge now that makes it easier to tell that it's a different denomination?
Most countries already use different colored bills to help distinguish one denomination from another (and to aid in quickly determining how much cash on hand you have by a quick glance). Only in the US do I have to manually count out every bill to make sure a $5 didn't sneak in with the $1s and so on.
Of course, perhaps it's time to go beyond linen/cotton/paper based bills and move to plastic (polymer) based ones...
Re:but all the old stuff is still good, right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Eventually, these get circulated enough so that when a cashier is presented with an old $100, they can inspect it more thoroughly because they don't have to do it as often.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:2, Insightful)
What's gold and silver backed by? Oh yeah, that's right nothing but our imagination.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:federal reserve corporation's 0% interest rates (Score:5, Insightful)
no, the Federal Funds Rate is currently 0.25% and for overnight loans. very short term so does not have the explosive inflationary effect you seem to imagine.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:All that, and yet ... (Score:5, Insightful)
It costs 18.03 cents [usmint.gov] to mint those dollar coins, but only 5.4 cents [federalreserve.gov] to print a one dollar bill. So why exactly would they want to get rid of the paper bill?
Because coins can last for decades, whereas paper money has to be continually replaced. I'm sure I read somewhere that the Bank of England heats the building by burning old money, which is replaced by new notes.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:2, Insightful)
He didn't specify the gender of the 70-year old. Any misogyny here is your own.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:5, Insightful)
"It has had value since humans placed value on things."
Correction: it has been GIVEN value since humans placed value on things. You can't eat gold, right? you can't shelter with gold, right?
Now, think of it. Gold has value because people gave it value. This means that other things can have value as long as people gives value to them. Pretty papers with a portrait of a famous dead guy, for instance.
Re:Looks European.... cue the conspiracy... (Score:3, Insightful)
It has had value since humans placed value on things.
Ah, good, at least you understand where value comes from (and thus fundamentally agree with the person you were responding to), rather than believing in magical fairy tales like "intrinsic value" or such nonsense...
At least it has intrinsic value...
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