Treasury announces woman to replace Hamilton on $10 bill

[hotdogPi]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

[oscar]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

Creating a new big bill (say, a $500) wouldn't eliminate the need to change a smaller, more-commonly-used bill to make room for a new face. I can see Reagan going on a $500 (people can differ on why that would be an appropriate place for his mug), but King, Tubman, or almost anyone else on a little-used big bill would be considered not a meaningful honor. That would be kind of like Susan B. Anthony on the little-used original version of the downsized dollar coin, which isn't really counted toward the "women on money" cause.

There would still be the traditional concern about a big bill facilitating black market transactions. I say, better such transactions be done with big dollar bills than big Euro bills.

[TXtoNJ]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

Who uses big bills like that other than drug dealers and other criminals? Most large transactions are done digitally nowadays.

Furthermore, those would be begging to be counterfeited.

[Brandon]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

Who uses big bills like that other than drug dealers and other criminals? Most large transactions are done digitally nowadays.

Furthermore, those would be begging to be counterfeited.

Actually, the most counterfeited bill in the US is the $20.  I'm surprised people don't counterfeit $1s more often (never updated, easy to hide).

[corco]

Doesn't the cost of making a decent counterfeit one for somebody that doesn't have access to the mint's economies of scale typically exceed $1?

[english si]

For that matter, how about getting away from putting any person's image on money.

It works for the euro, but the result is a little bland, in my opinion. Though I imagine nobody on here would argue with a series of bills with famous bridges of the United States on them!

The bridges on Euros are as real as Greek democracy thanks to the Euro: totally fake.

Mostly to avoid the fighting over which note is more prestigeous and which country's bridge is on it. You might get that with states, but the demos (ie the idea that there is one people under the federal structure) in the USA is much more real than in the Eurozone, so maybe not, but with about twice the number of states, than countries that use the Euro, its still going to be an issue.

The theme on Euro notes is ages of architecture - €5 is Roman, €50 is Renaissance, €500 is 20th Century - with a generic bridge on one side and a window or archway or doorway or (for some reason on the €500) a small building.

Who uses big bills like that other than drug dealers and other criminals?

Germans (who demanded the creation of general issue €200 and €500 banknotes)? Or do they count in the 'other criminals'? 

[kkt]

Why do Germans particularly want a larger denomination note?  Do they dislike electronic transfer, does electronic transfer come with high service charges there, do they not want Big Brother tracking their transactions?

[1995hoo]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

Creating a new big bill (say, a $500) wouldn't eliminate the need to change a smaller, more-commonly-used bill to make room for a new face. I can see Reagan going on a $500 (people can differ on why that would be an appropriate place for his mug), but King, Tubman, or almost anyone else on a little-used big bill would be considered not a meaningful honor. That would be kind of like Susan B. Anthony on the little-used original version of the downsized dollar coin, which isn't really counted toward the "women on money" cause.

There would still be the traditional concern about a big bill facilitating black market transactions. I say, better such transactions be done with big dollar bills than big Euro bills.

This sort of thing is one reason I suggested a $200 or $250 earlier in this thread: It'd be a new denomination, as there used to be a $500 that featured William McKinley. It was withdrawn, along with the other denominations above $100, in 1969. I asked at the bank once if I could get a $500 when I owed a guy $500 and needed to pay cash (I was moving and had to close my local bank account) and they told me Federal Reserve regulations require them to return any "large-denomination" banknotes (meaning above $100) for destruction whenever they receive any.

[vdeane]

The bridges on Euros are as real as Greek democracy thanks to the Euro: totally fake.

Not anymore: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/05/the-bridges-of-europe-robin-stam-copied-from-euro-banknotes/

[Duke87]

I honestly don't think that has anything to do with it. People will use dingy old quarters just as readily as new ones, to anyone who is not a coin collector, it's just money and what it looks like isn't really important beyond being able to identify it.

How many severely corroded quarters have you seen lately? How many post-1964 (cupronickel) quarters have you seen that had significant wear? The old pre-1965 quarters tended to wear around the edges but the modern copper/nickel coins actually age a lot better than silver quarters did.

When I worked at a C-store, I would spot 1965 quarters nearly every day. Most of them were still in excellent condition. I don't know where all these grungy quarters are, but I've rarely ever seen any.

Where the quarter itself corroded? None. But I have seen plenty of corroding pennies have their corrosion stick to other coins in my pocket. And I have also seen coins become fouled by other means, like soda spilling on them and leaving them sticky. When stuff like this happens, if anything I am more likely to spend these coins, since their dirtiness makes me want to get rid of them.

Same thing with bills - I always spend the beat up ones before the fresh and crisp ones.

[Scott5114]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

Who uses big bills like that other than drug dealers and other criminals? Most large transactions are done digitally nowadays.

Furthermore, those would be begging to be counterfeited.

Casino patrons, for one. We had someone cash a $60,000 check (issued by the casino for a jackpot win) the other day. Six straps of hundreds...took forever to count out to the customer.

Counterfeiting happens but it's easy enough to detect if you're sensible. Before I worked with the amount of cash that I do, I thought it would be super tricky to spot counterfeits. Nope, most of them look like they're printed at home on an inkjet printer. The one counterfeit that was personally brought to me I noticed before the customer even made it all the way to the counter. Most of the counterfeits don't even make an attempt at a including the watermark, and if you want to be extra-certain, just run them under a blacklight and look for the glowing strip.

Running into counterfeits is common enough, but not an every day occurrence. I have personally seen fake $5s, $20s, $50s, and $100s, and have heard of, but not seen, $1s and $2s being intercepted. Because $1s and $2s don't have the security features the other bills have, we have to rely on the stupid pen for them, although with $1s we can run it through the currency counter to see if it rejects it as another measure of security (they don't take $2s so they're kind of useless for that).

[mgk920]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

In the early 1930s (before FDR dropped the gold standard in April of 1933), USA banknotes went up to $10K for general circulation (almost $800K in 2015 money), with a non-circulating $100K note that was used in interbank transactions only.  Coins went up to $20 (about $1.6K in 2015 money).  This was at a time when one 50¢ coin could buy a decent restaurant meal for the family and to have even a single $1 note in the wallet was to be carrying 'real' money around.  Until the WWII era, nearly all 'everyday' commerce in the USA was pretty much done in coins only.

Mike

[english si]

Only $100k (~$8m today)? Try £100m if you want big banknotes. 20 times the size!

[SP Cook]

I would join the comments about casinos.  It is very difficult to carry, or even obtain,  the amount of cash I want to take to a casino.  $5 to 10K.  That is a lot, even in hundreds.  A $500 or $1000 bill would be welcome. 

I have always heard that it is the Spanish who believe that it is wise to keep a good amount of high value notes  in the home, because of various governments just deciding to wipe out bank deposits when things get rough.  Never heard it was the Germans.  Supposedly like half of the 500s are in Spain.

Canada briefly has a $200, but concerns over criminal stuff led them to pull it. 

Personally, I think the US should have 5c, 10c, 25c, $1 and $2 coins (I would add a 50c coin but people are incapable of understanding they are not a commerative, pennies are nearly valueless just don't make any more and let them age out of the system) and 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 dollar bills.

The last money, sad to say, has been a great one for PC hindsight judgement of past lives against modern standards.  Since no person can meet that standard, I would just give up and use alegorical symbols.

[Scott5114]

I would join the comments about casinos.  It is very difficult to carry, or even obtain,  the amount of cash I want to take to a casino.  $5 to 10K.  That is a lot, even in hundreds.  A $500 or $1000 bill would be welcome. 

Will your bank not allow you to withdraw that much in cash? It would definitely land you on one of the Title 31 logs, but since it's clearly your money, that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Unless the bank just doesn't carry straps of hundreds, which seems absurd.

We have a guy that comes in occasionally and uses the casino check-cashing system to do a $10,000 credit card cash advance sometimes. The processing fee is $800, which he happily pays. Must be nice.

[SP Cook]

Nah, I can get that much money from the bank.  It is just that, even with 100s, that is lot of bills. 

There just isn't a good way to get money to and from Las Vegas.  ATMs are limited to $500/day and the ones in the casinos charge confiscatory fees.   And none of my local banks do business in Nevada, so I have to pay a fee anyway.  Casino check cashing systems, as you note, cost too much.   You can get house credit (AKA a marker) but that ties you to one casino and involves a lot of paperwork.

I've tried old-fashioned traveler's checks, which still exist and which come in 1000s.   Aside from being safer, they come in 1000s.  But, increasingly the people at the bank look at me like I have an extra head when I ask for them. 

You can get the modern equilivant of traveler's checks, which is a pre-paid credit card, but the casinos, at least the ones I deal with, consider that a credit card cash advance and charge huge fees.

Coming home is easy (and, yes I generally come home with more than I take out) , most casinos will write you a check for any amount over about $4000. 

[kkt]

We have a guy that comes in occasionally and uses the casino check-cashing system to do a $10,000 credit card cash advance sometimes. The processing fee is $800, which he happily pays. Must be nice.

To be a fool in the process of being parted from his money?

[Scott5114]

We have a guy that comes in occasionally and uses the casino check-cashing system to do a $10,000 credit card cash advance sometimes. The processing fee is $800, which he happily pays. Must be nice.

To be a fool in the process of being parted from his money?

Well, must be nice to be rich enough that you can't be arsed enough to stop at the bank to be willing to pay $800 for literally no reason.

[DeaconG]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

In the early 1930s (before FDR dropped the gold standard in April of 1933), USA banknotes went up to $10K for general circulation (almost $800K in 2015 money), with a non-circulating $100K note that was used in interbank transactions only.  Coins went up to $20 (about $1.6K in 2015 money).  This was at a time when one 50¢ coin could buy a decent restaurant meal for the family and to have even a single $1 note in the wallet was to be carrying 'real' money around.  Until the WWII era, nearly all 'everyday' commerce in the USA was pretty much done in coins only.

Mike

There was also a $50K note that along with the $100K note that was used for transfers between Federal Reserve Banks only.

It was the "drug war" excuse that killed all denominations above $100-I remember getting out of the military in 1982 and getting my money out of the base credit union in $500 bills.

Of course, if Chase and the rest of the banks have their way, cash will be extinct (if you have any accounts with Chase such as car note, mortgage, credit card etc they will no longer accept cash AND you can't keep it in their safe deposit boxes).

[jeffandnicole]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

In the early 1930s (before FDR dropped the gold standard in April of 1933), USA banknotes went up to $10K for general circulation (almost $800K in 2015 money), with a non-circulating $100K note that was used in interbank transactions only.  Coins went up to $20 (about $1.6K in 2015 money).  This was at a time when one 50¢ coin could buy a decent restaurant meal for the family and to have even a single $1 note in the wallet was to be carrying 'real' money around.  Until the WWII era, nearly all 'everyday' commerce in the USA was pretty much done in coins only.

Mike

There was also a $50K note that along with the $100K note that was used for transfers between Federal Reserve Banks only.

It was the "drug war" excuse that killed all denominations above $100-I remember getting out of the military in 1982 and getting my money out of the base credit union in $500 bills.

Of course, if Chase and the rest of the banks have their way, cash will be extinct (if you have any accounts with Chase such as car note, mortgage, credit card etc they will no longer accept cash AND you can't keep it in their safe deposit boxes).

How do they know what you're putting into your safe deposit box?  You take it to a private room and you put in whatever you want.  Even when I just wanted to slip something in or out of my box at my bank in the vault room, the employee turns away when I open it so he/she can't see what's in there. 

[triplemultiplex]

[US 41]

IMO, I don't think we should change who is on the front of our paper money. As far as those gold $1 coins are concerned, put whoever you want on those.

[Takumi]

"Give what back?"

[Scott5114]

Why not create a new $200 or $250 bill?

Advantages:

1. Nobody would have to be removed from any bill. It's a new denomination.

2. The $200 or $250 bill would be similar to the $5 bill in the 1930s. Even in the 1930s, bills went up to $100.

In the early 1930s (before FDR dropped the gold standard in April of 1933), USA banknotes went up to $10K for general circulation (almost $800K in 2015 money), with a non-circulating $100K note that was used in interbank transactions only.  Coins went up to $20 (about $1.6K in 2015 money).  This was at a time when one 50¢ coin could buy a decent restaurant meal for the family and to have even a single $1 note in the wallet was to be carrying 'real' money around.  Until the WWII era, nearly all 'everyday' commerce in the USA was pretty much done in coins only.

Mike

There was also a $50K note that along with the $100K note that was used for transfers between Federal Reserve Banks only.

It was the "drug war" excuse that killed all denominations above $100-I remember getting out of the military in 1982 and getting my money out of the base credit union in $500 bills.

Of course, if Chase and the rest of the banks have their way, cash will be extinct (if you have any accounts with Chase such as car note, mortgage, credit card etc they will no longer accept cash AND you can't keep it in their safe deposit boxes).

There was never a $50,000 bill. It jumped straight from $10,000 to $100,000.

[Scott5114]

IMO, I don't think we should change who is on the front of our paper money. As far as those gold $1 coins are concerned, put whoever you want on those.

Why not? It's been almost 90 years since the current lineup was selected. We're not the same country that we were in 1928.