Treasury Goes High-Tech With Redesigned $100 Bills 515
Hugh Pickens writes "AP reports that as part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters, the Department of the Treasury has designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill with a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue security ribbon composed of thousands of tiny lenses that magnify objects in mysterious ways. The new blue security ribbon will give a 3-D effect to the micro-images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move. Tilt the note side to side and the images will move up and down."
Wot? (Score:2)
No RFID tag?
Tin foil wallet at the ready!
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Eh, doesn't really matter since nobody carries hundreds.
What? I have paid with an 500 euros ($667) on an movie theater. They sure took it, but the teens besides us looked at us with a weird smile.
Just because you don't carry doesn't mean nobody does.
Re:Wot? (Score:5, Funny)
That weird smile was more likely a knowing "guess who's gettin' mugged later" look.
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What? I have paid with an 500 euros ($667) on an movie theater.
I'm surprised they accepted it. They're risking ~€490 if it's fake, for a fake €20 the risk is much, much lower.
In the UK some places don't accept £50 notes -- they're the highest value, and also the oldest (least secure) design.
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Eh, doesn't really matter since nobody carries hundreds.
Move out of your parent's basement and get a job.
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Move out of your parent's basement and get a job.
I have more than one parent, you insensitive clod!
Re:Wot? (Score:4, Funny)
My drug dealer takes them. He won't take change, though.
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Re:Wot? (Score:5, Interesting)
You're joking right? While not pocket change, it's also not a terribly large amount of money either. I guess it depends on location, but in my neck of the woods it's not uncommon at all. I have never come across a place that refused a hundred dollar bill (or fifties).
Re:Wot? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wot? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe you don't carry hundreds... But I do as well as most people I know.
I don't have any problem spending them. In fact I have yet to find a place that will not accept a hundred as payment. Unless I'm being a prick and buying a pack of gum and paying with it.
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Trivia question: can you guess which bill is carried the most?
Wrong, it's actually the $100 bill. Because everyone likes to look like a pimp/hi-roller/badass.
Still out of date (Score:4, Informative)
pffft. put out a press release when you join the 20th century...
http://www.questacon.edu.au/indepth/clever/plastic_banknotes.html [questacon.edu.au]
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Ummm....the plastic ones would never be allowed in the USA - they don't absorb cocaine properly.
Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Funny)
Value added!
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The feds aren't thinking of the catwalk models when they slip bags of cocaine into the money-counting machines, they're thinking of the jury's reaction.
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I think the issue is that we (Australia) won't license the patent and actually print the money for all the countries that use it. Do you reckon the US would go for THAT?
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Still out of date (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I care less about what they're made of and more about the sizes and colours. I know dollars are tinted now, but they're still basically green, and all the same size. Not a major issue, I know, but it's just that little bit less convenient when you're thumbing through your wallet.
Or, if you happen to be blind, more than "a little less convenient". US paper currency has been ruled to be discriminatory to the blind [usatoday.com]. Unfortunately, this redesign does not address the issue.
The biggest reason I've seen for not changing the size or adding raised/textured numbers that can be felt by hand, is that it would screw up vending machines. But there are a couple of points of counterargument. For one, can you say that older vending machines will be able to read this new redesigned bill either? It seems so totally different that it's unlikely.
But even if it can, there's the second point; most of the many, many vending machines in the US accept $1 and $5 bills, selling $1.50 cans of coke or $1 bags of candy. Yes, there are a small number of machines selling higher priced items such as electronics, but these are much less common (and have higher profits as well). So, the solution is to start changing size from the top down, keeping the $1 bill the same. Only the relatively rare, high-profit machines need to be changed over to accept the new bills. The machines found in every school, shopping center, and transportation hub selling Coke and M&Ms don't have to be touched.
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Yeah I don't buy the 'but think of the machines!' argument against changing the design of the US currency. Dozens upon dozens of other developed countries have changed currencies in the last 20 years. Australia switched from paper 100/50/20/10/5/2/1 dollar bills to polymer 100/50/20/10/5 dollar bills and $1 and $2 coins during the 90s. I don't remember any problems occurring with vending machines etc. A bunch of countries now license the Australian technology to print their own polymer money ... and they t
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Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Interesting)
Not true - while we do produce polymer banknotes for most of the countries that use them, we've also licensed the technology to Brazil, China and Israel for their own production. There's no reason the same couldn't be done in the US, apart from the Not Invented Here issue.
Re:Still out of date (Score:5, Insightful)
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Well that's nice. I presume CSIRO has given the US royalty free use of the patent. What's that? They haven't? Ahh well there you go then.
Please understand that for various reasons, not the least of which being the vast amount of US currency in use, the distance to Australia, and so on it would not at all work for the US to contract to Australia to print their notes.
Also understand that a radical change in the materials of the notes could lead to problems in compatibility with various automated systems that
Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Informative)
Also understand that a radical change in the materials of the notes could lead to problems in compatibility with various automated systems that deal with them.
I think this is probably a bit more important than otherwise noted.
I don't see why CSIRO wouldn't license polymer notes, they license wireless networking...
Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Insightful)
The US Treasury Department is testing polymer bank notes, but there are concerns that the American public will reject a plastic Greenback.
Are they serious? Americans wouldn't like more durable plastic money because it's not American paper money? I've never lived in a world with paper money, and whenever I go overseas I always notice that paper money is flimsy and often torn, not to mention in the tropics it's sweaty. Plastic money is the way to go.
Re:Still out of date (Score:5, Insightful)
The US "rejects" changes to its currency because it never pushes changes properly. The dollar coin being one example. How do you get people to switch from dollar bills to dollar coins? By not printing dollar bills any more and taking them out of circulation when they go through clearing. Eventually everyone switches whether they want to or not. As a further incentive you pass legislation that makes old currency non-legal tender after some reasonable point, after which people must exchange it at a central bank.
If the situation with dollars sounds pathetic, that's because it is. European countries are far more adept at switching notes than the US, so adept in fact that most of Europe switched entirely from one entire currency to another in the space of a few months. Not only does it mean currency can more readily introduce anti counterfeiting measures but can also include more features for blind & sight impaired people too such as coloured notes & size differences in coinage.
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So you propose that the United States should move more quickly on major changes to health, financial, and economic systems? That when making $1T changes 14 months of debate is too long?
Me, I'm happy that big changes take some debate. I'm not always happy with the outcome, but I welcome the debate.
Re:Still out of date (Score:5, Funny)
You can't tip strippers with dollar coins.
Yeah, that pesky thong is in the way of the coin slot.
Re:Still out of date (Score:4, Informative)
Canada's joining you Aussies with the plastic currency soon. Next year, I think, our money is making that transition. (Let's hope they don't make the design worse. Tories + Committees generally = Bad Design.)
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pffft. put out a press release when you join the 20th century...
http://www.questacon.edu.au/indepth/clever/plastic_banknotes.html [questacon.edu.au]
I suppose that you missed this quote from the very article that you link to:
"The US Treasury Department is testing polymer bank notes, but there are concerns that the American public will reject a plastic Greenback."
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Interesting, but there's something unsettling about all that plastic.
If you didn't know, US dollars are made from a cotton/linen blend. Much more durable than paper and easier on the environment than plastic.
Coins last for decades. Every other "rich" country uses coins for something so low in value as US$1. The UK has a £2 coin (US$3), the Eurozone has €2 (US$2.6), Australia has a AU$2 (US$1.9).
There are four British coins (£2, £1, 50p, 20p) of higher value than the highest value US coin in normal circulation (US$0.25).
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Anyone who thinks that US dollar coins are a great idea can certainly aid in the effort to spread them around. The next time you want some $$, go into the bank (instead of hitting the ATM) and ask for dollar coins. Then spend them wherever you go. I know of what I speak; I've been getting about $125 worth of dollar coins from the bank every month for about 3 years. I use them everywhere. I give them to my kids for allowances and school lunch/milk money. I use them at toll plazas. I use them at conven
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Sounds like, um, sounds like....
Oh never mind.
I don't get it... (Score:2)
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Re:I don't get it... (Score:4, Insightful)
The security feature is that they cost more to make than their face value.
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Re:I don't get it... (Score:5, Insightful)
My(admittedly layman's) understanding, is that hundreds, to the degree they are counterfeited at all, are mostly the domain of Real Serious Actors(North Korea always seems to be on the list of suspects). Most domestic and/or fairly small-time operators are banging out twenties or smaller; because those are much easier to disseminate without attracting suspicion(counterfeit currency is worse than useless if you can't find a good way to spend it, or sell it to someobody who can, since merely producing or knowingly possessing is illegal; but it is only valuable if spent). Even if they are 100% authentic, most places will give you a seriously suspicious look if you show up with a brick of hundreds. No bored retail drone is even going to bother with a second glance if you pay your tab in a busy, dimly-lit bar with a reasonably plausible twenty or two.
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No bored retail drone is even going to bother with a second glance if you pay your tab in a busy, dimly-lit bar with a reasonably plausible twenty or two.
A quick Google search would have shown you that it is in fact rather common for bored retail drones to panic over two dollar bills. :-p
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Re:I don't get it... (Score:4, Informative)
Until they get to know you.
I am a creature of routine. Except for the exceptions, of course, I tend to go to the same places and deal with the same people. The Chinese buffet at which I eat lunch expects me to pay my $8.40 tab with a $100 bill. The Walmart where I drop in to pay my Discover credit card expects me to pull out a $2K, bank-sleeved pile of hundreds, plus a few more that I fish out of my pocket.
Big exception: the dancers at the strip club. I love dropping $2 bills on the stage. They pick 'em up and look at 'em funny, sometimes for a long time.
I always carry $2 bills. I call 'em my "stripper-confusers".
Note: In my experience, Starbucks clerks will be nearly as perplexed nearly as often.
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Suitable paper and ink are hard to come by. You'd probably pay more than $5 for the materials on the black market.
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They get the paper by bleaching $1s.
Re:I don't get it... (Score:4, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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You do realise that you are welcome to trade only with currency that you consider valid, and to only trade with those who have the same opinion as you, yes?
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Actually, no. In many situations you are required by law to accept whatever is legal tender in the country you’re in.
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Um, no, unless you're talking about repayment of debt. Even then, it's not a problem if you only trade with those who agree with you.
I have a pen here. I'll give it to you if you give me your house. There's no way that means I have to accept the cash value of your house.
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No. That is illegal. You are required by law to accept goverment currency and forbidden from accepting other currency.
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Well of course. Where do you think all the inflation in the '70s came from? How do you think they paid for the VietNam war? And guess what -- we have TWO wars to pay for now.
War makes the folks who run the military industrial complex richer, and the rest of us poorer.
Samples? (Score:5, Funny)
Where can I get free samples of this new product?
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> Where can I get free samples of this new product?
www.federalreserve.gov
Not exactly free...printing costs do apply.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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They are "worth" the political might of the United States. By accepting the bills, you are betting on the future political power of the USA. Similarly, if you accept gold coins, you are betting on the future trade value of gold.
Any currency -- any at all -- is nothing more than a communal expectation of continued value. It's fine for people to think that (say) gold will retain its value better than (say) the USA, but it's hogwash to claim that one value is "real" and the other is not.
The Real Counterfitters are The Fed (Score:4, Insightful)
The Free Competition in Currency Act [downsizedc.org] and Federal Reserve Transparency Act [downsizedc.org] are good places to start. Talk to your congressman today and ask them to sober up.
Peter
Re:The Real Counterfitters are The Fed (Score:5, Insightful)
Gold's price has gone from over $600 in the 80's, to less than $300 in the 90's back up to over $600 now. How again would this remove inflation & deflation? (The US dollar inflated between those two periods, so if gold is a counterweigh, then gold prices should have increased to match.)
What happens if a huge amount of gold reserves are found? Everyone's money deflates.
You do also know that we have fewer recessions than we did while in the gold standard, right?
And that there is nothing preventing you from accepting gold as payment? See e-gold.com & their payments system.
If you are going to claim that a government agency is defrauding you, then there needs to be evidence: the inflation rate in the US has been less than 5% for almost all of the last decade, and much of that time it has been less than 2%. And you do know that inflationary bubbles aren't the only cause of asset bubbles or the only cause of recession?
A random metal is no more/less intrinsically valuable than random pieces of specially printed paper or of little black pixels in the shape of numbers on my bank's website.
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Gold's price has gone from over $600 in the 80's, to less than $300 in the 90's back up to over $600 now. How again would this remove inflation & deflation? (The US dollar inflated between those two periods, so if gold is a counterweigh, then gold prices should have increased to match.)
The Free Competition in Currency Act [downsizedc.org] is not about returning to the gold standard. It is about putting some more competition into the currency market with the expected result that good currency will drive out the bad. By not allowing competing currencies people are forced to do business with dollars backed by nothing but the full faith and credit of the US. (Which, ain't what it used to be) Ideally, the Dollar would be the good currency and be made better by the competition.
What happens if a huge amount of gold reserves are found? Everyone's money deflates.
True. But what are the odds of
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Of course. But a random bit of metal is much harder to create out of thin air, and thus it is much better insulated against the problem of currency inflation.
Currency inflation is the problem. It is what makes the USD and indeed the US economy a bit of a prisoners dilemma. If you attempt to store your wealth in US dollars, you will find
The Federal Reserve is NOT publicly owned (Score:3, Informative)
If you are going to claim that a government agency is defrauding you,
The "Federal" Reserve is NOT a government agency: it's a public-private partnership. The Senate confirms the board of govenors. Member banks own the Federal Reserve's stock, and earn 6% per year return. It wasn't until the 1960's that excess profits were turned over to the Department of the Treasury.
Counterfeiting (Score:2, Insightful)
Funny how the process of counterfeiting -- injecting paper money into the economy with nothing of actual value to back it up -- is exactly the same as what government does to cause inflation. The result? The criminal (er, government) holds more money, at the expense of everybody else whose dollars are now worth less.
Of course, when you're at the top of the pyramid, your actions are sacred rather than criminal.
But... but... (Score:3, Funny)
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A disappearing Liberty Bell... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can already see them working at it (Score:2)
Re:I can already see them working at it (Score:5, Insightful)
So you do not have to have your own credit card swiping machine and an account with a processor to sell something on craigslist.
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Eh? My bank will still cash a cashier’s check. Or even a personal check, if I’m daring enough to accept one and the person who wrote it has the money in their account to cover it.
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Really, I don't understand how paper money still exists.
Next time you're at the grocery store waiting in a line that takes longer to get through than the drive home, look at the front of the line and you'll either see somebody writing a check or counting out bills and coins.
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Really, I don't understand how paper money still exists.
Since I'm a cheapass, I don't use credit cards because of fees and interest. Because I had a debit card stolen and used by someone who watched me punch the PIN number in and drained my checking account, I don't use those, either. I write a check every few days, at the bank.
Nobody can track what I buy or where I buy it. Paper money is the only way to be anonymous; I bought my Boost Mobile phone with cash and pay the $50 monthly fee with cash, nobody has
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All US bills still same size, color (Score:5, Insightful)
There's really no excuse for this. The bills should have different color and size to help the visually impaired. There's no good reason not to. Sure, don't change the $1 due to bill readers. I suppose there are $5/$10/$20 readers, though usually at the post office (and hence easy to change from the government's perspective). But really -- why not mix up the $50 and $100 so that they're easier for those with disabilities to use. It'd at least be a step in the right direction.
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I sympathize with your argument, I really do. Different sized bills would also make counterfeiting more difficult.
However you forget that every bank branch in the country has at least one money counter; how many are there? As an example, Bank of America lists upwards of 6000 branches.
There are something like 400,000 ATMs in the United States as well, how many of those would need modified?
Re:All US bills still same size, color (Score:4, Interesting)
Many other countries have different sized notes, so I wonder if it would really even be hard or relatively expensive to modify them? The technology is already out there and I'd imagine companies that produce US money counting machines probably also produce money counting machines internationally such that the work could probably be done with existing suppliers.
That's not to say it wouldn't cost more than your average Joe will earn in their entire life time of course, but I doubt the cost would be prohibitively expensive. It comes down the modifications required I suppose- it may be that the machines were built in such a way that there isn't room in the design for modification and they'd have to be completely replaced I guess and certainly at that point it could become an issue!
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I suppose there are $5/$10/$20 readers, though usually at the post office (and hence easy to change from the government's perspective).
You're omitting one of the largest markets for omni-bill readers: casinos. These readers will accept $1 through $100. (I dunno about $1000)
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Actually, it’s gold.
Re:All US bills still same size, color (Score:5, Insightful)
I could see this argument 20 years ago. But does it really matter anymore since CCs have become so ubiquitous? I hardly EVER use paper money anymore.
Funny, I just switched to a budget where I do the exact opposite. Fixed cash pools are, hands down, the best way to control discretionary spending. Many would be very wise to put away the plastic and go back to an all-cash budget.
Meanwhile, if I were visually impaired, assuming US currency wasn't so retarded, I'd feel a lot more comfortable paying with physical bills rather than trusting a cashier not to defraud me by, say, double-swiping my card.
Why not retire the old bills? (Score:2)
When Australia switched to the new plastic money, we changed over from old $100 to new $100 (for example) in a short space of time.
Although I guess the total number of AU$100 bills in circulation worldwide is a LOT less than the total number of US$100 bills :)
Forget centralized closed source money. (Score:2)
Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) [wikipedia.org] also known as LETSystems are local, non-profit exchange networks in which goods and services can be traded without the need for printed currency. In some places, e.g. Toronto, the scheme has been called the Local Employment and Trading System.
Update patch? (Score:3)
(My school subsidizes the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, which was last weekend, otherwise no I wouldn't have a $100 on me).
Plastic money... (Score:3, Interesting)
UK resident here. I personally love it when new technology is introduced into banknotes, but those plastic ones the Australians have had for ages are just plain cool.
The Indonesian plastic Rp100,000 note is also pretty damned cool.
Wish we had 'em.
Numb3rs (Score:2)
Don't counterfeiters prefer euro notes? (Score:2)
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But then it’s someone else’s problem.
What's The Point? (Score:5, Insightful)
All older bills are valid until they wear out. In other words; this is a pointless exercise unless they set an expiry date for older bills.
Re:What's The Point? (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is that the banks gradually remove them from circulation by sending them in to be destroyed and replaced with modern currency. It takes a while, but eventually the old bills become uncommon enough that their use becomes more suspect. For example, this is still valid us currency:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:One_US_dollar_1917.jpg [wikipedia.org]
but if someone tried to pay me with one, I think I'd be a bit suspicious. Especially if they tried using a whole bunch of them at once. Counterfeiters don't just spend a $20 here and a $20 there...they are in it big time and have loads of bills they need to unload.
This is aimed at non-US countries (Score:5, Interesting)
Most US $100 notes are circulated outside of the US. I don't know the percentage, but it's very high. Aside from legal users, there is a lot of people with large caches of $100 notes that our government doesn't like.
In non-US countries the the phrase "legal tender for all debts public and private" carries no weight. They can be picky about what notes they accept. Every time that new US notes are issued, people with large hoards of US cash find that their old notes are no longer accepted and they have to scramble to get new notes. They get noticed.
Notes? (Score:3, Interesting)
A one-hundred dollar 'note' that promises to give you another one-hundred dollar 'note' in exchange is no note. It is a self-referential monstrosity. The wording "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE" that appears on it is an insider joke at the expense of the schmucks who accept them.
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I always thought counterfeiting was the only crime that made any sense. Nobody gets hurt, there's no violence involved. You just make it and spend it.
That's probably why the G takes it so seriously. When they catch counterfeiters, they put them under the prison.
Re:time for a change (Score:4, Insightful)
Report to Econ 101 please.
The damage from counterfeiting is inflation. Therefore, counterfeiting is a crime whose damage is divided among all individuals who are holding cash, or who are holding dollar-denominated assets at a fixed interest rate.
That the damage to each victim is very small is a secondary issue that perhaps could be considered at sentencing time.
Re:time for a change (Score:4, Insightful)
The damage from counterfeiting is inflation. Therefore, counterfeiting is a crime whose damage is divided among all individuals who are holding cash, or who are holding dollar-denominated assets at a fixed interest rate.
That the damage to each victim is very small is a secondary issue that perhaps could be considered at sentencing time.
Which is why HR1206 and S604 are essential beginnings to end the reign of the largest counterfeiter and thief of American wealth, The Federal Reserve.
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The damage from counterfeiting is inflation.
Inflation—more generally, any increase in the supply of any good leading to its devaluation—is not damage. Everyone has a right to their dollars, but, as with any good, no one has a right to receive any specific price for those dollars in the marketplace.
The problem is that people, with the strong encouragement of governments, insist on treating as a stable store of value objects which have essentially no direct use valued in proportional to the price paid for them, not even as raw material, and
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|| So, are you saying that Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke should be arrested? ||
He might not be saying so directly. However, Henry and Ben being arrested would be a good start, I think.
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Nobody gets hurt, there's no violence involved.
Counterfeiting reduces the trust people have in the money.
Counterfeiting? I thought it was government.
Re:time for a change (Score:5, Funny)
I'll make me some money the old fashion way.
Ways to spot the bills printed by AC in his Mom's basement:
1. One Hundred Dollars reads One Hunnert Dollars
B. The United States of America reads The Untied State of America
Third. The phrase "Haulin' Ass and Gettin' Paid" does not actually appear on legitimate US currency.
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Is that a roll of $5 coins in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
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Long term it'll save lost of money.
Yeah, that's what happens to all my coinage too.
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Damn slashdot swallowed my cent characters. Hey slashdot, it's 2010, can't we join the 21st century and allow ISO8859-1 characters?
A dollar today has the buying power of 6 cents in 1940. But don't take my word for it, here's one of many inflation calculators http://www.coinnews.net/tools/cpi-inflation-calculator/ [coinnews.net] [coinnews.net]
Can you imagine your grandparents carrying a wallet stuffed with 5 cent notes? Or a pocket full of .06 coins?
Time to get rid of them. Time to stop wasting 100s of millions of dollars