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A hundred dollars was a lot of money once. But it isn't any more. Is it time for the US government to bring back the $500 bill?
Should there be a single bill large enough to pay for a cart loosely full of groceries, or a SUV tank full of unleaded, or two grandstand tickets to a Red Sox game, or enough stamps to mail 250 Christmas cards??
Yes, I understand why it was abolished. With larger bills, it would have been impossible to achieve our gloriously and spectacularly successful victory in the war on drugs.
I would love a 500 dollar bill. It would be great to watch the security innovations. Counterfeiters would be vexed. And make it a pretty color ! (and do not put Bush on it).
With the way the economy is going I'm guessing in a few more years few of us will even have $500 to our names.
Then we have the problem of standard cash drawers. Once we put $2 bills into circulation the Cashiers would give back the $2 bills as quick as they got them cause they didn't have a slot for them.
With the way the economy is going I'm guessing in a few more years few of us will even have $500 to our names.
Then we have the problem of standard cash drawers. Once we put $2 bills into circulation the Cashiers would give back the $2 bills as quick as they got them cause they didn't have a slot for them.
I wouldn't worry about the registers as much. whenever I get a weird bill, I just stick it under the register for later. I doubt many retail stores would accept one anyways. many don't accept $100 bills. in most of the retail stores I've worked in, including grocery stores, you don't usually start w/ more than $300-400 in cash so making change for a $500 would be impossible unless you put a spending minimum on it (ie, must spend over $200 before a cashier will take a $500 bill)
with everything moving to plastic, I don't see the need for a new bill. I rarely carry cash anymore, and when I do, it's always smaller bills. if I'm buying anything over $100, I'm paying w/ a debit or credit card (or a money order or a check if I'm paying bills or rent). plus, there's the online factor. people are buying more stuff online, and Amazon doesn't take cash
There's no slot for $50 or $100 bills either, they go under the tray with the checks. A slot will be freed up when we abolish he $1 and maybe even the $5 and replace them with coins, as Canada did a couple of decades ago. The US one is nearly the smallest paper bill in the western world now, and it's already hard to find anything you can buy with one. Its virtually impossible to buy anything with the largest coin in regular circulation.
The inflation that will of necessity follow the bank bailouts, will make $100 bills worth less than half of what they are now, and probably barely more than today's twenty, in the space of maybe five years. The government will have to print up huge amounts of debt paper. Even without the current crisis, the $100 has dropped to the value of a ten in about 50 years. The credit card companies are going to stop giving you a free ride, when they no longer have the bad risks to gouge and subsidize you, and more and more of your transactions will be in cash.
A hundred dollars was a lot of money once. But it isn't any more. Is it time for the US government to bring back the $500 bill?
Should there be a single bill large enough to pay for a cart loosely full of groceries, or a SUV tank full of unleaded, or two grandstand tickets to a Red Sox game, or enough stamps to mail 250 Christmas cards??
Yes, I understand why it was abolished. With larger bills, it would have been impossible to achieve our gloriously and spectacularly successful victory in the war on drugs.
A better question would be "Do we need physical notes at all?".
I've pushed for years to have them bring back a $20 and $10 and $5 dollar coin. They'd have a far greater life expectancy than papper notes and would see far more usage. Dollar coins are a bust because they're too low in value and too much like quarters in size. Have a $20 coin the size of an old silver dollar, the $10 coin the size of a half dollar and the $5 coin just slightly larger than a quarter. All gold in color like the Sacagawea dollar.
A better question would be "Do we need physical notes at all?".
Yes. To buy things from private sellers. From yard sales to used cars. To pay a one-time baby sitter. To pay a handyman neighbor to fix your faucet. By eliminating physical notes, you would be abolishing all casual transactions. For buying things you might need during that two weeks it takes your card issuer to replace it when the magnetic stripe gets worn and doesn't swipe anymore.
Do you really want to go the entire rest of your natural life without ever, even once, entering into any transaction with a person who is not equipped to accept your card?
You know what would happen if we abolished money? Convenience stores would be selling small denomination money orders for direct casual transactions. Or vending machines would be printing ---- physical notes! Can't live without them.
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