May 13, 2003
NEW MONEY!....Well, I don't know if it counts as good news, but at least this is interesting news: our new $20 bill, delayed by Gulf War II, has finally been announced.
The circle around Andy's portrait is gone, and the background is now a
multicolored green, peach, and light blue. So is it still a greenback?
The new bills will go into circulation in October. The Treasury
Department says it plans to redesign our paper currency every 7 to 10
years to keep ahead of counterfeiters.
Posted by Kevin Drum at May 13, 2003 11:02 AM
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"Greenback" refers to the color of the ink on the back of the bill. Showing us a picture of the front tells us nothing.
Just click the link to see both sides!
For my money (Oops. Sorry.) the great loss in currency was the euro
replacing the French franc banknotes: Great French scientists,
philosophers, and writers. And engineers: Eiffel. Everyone's favorite
was Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery, which even featured his
"Drawing Number Two" from The Little Prince: a doodle of a snake that
had swallowed an elephant. We ought to bump our presidents off the
bills--they got statues--and emulate the French.
What's wrong with this bill? Andy Jackson, genocidal lunatic. Other than that, it looks pretty good.
The portrait on the $20 looks like Henry Fonda channeling Andy Jackson, IMO.
To me, it looks more like Fred Astaire channeling Andy Gibb.
I just noticed this a week ago: On the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton looks like Paul Newman.
Thanks for the link, I'm testing some of these bills out today!
Brian C.B.: If the House GOP gets wind of your proposal to emulate
French currency, they'll immediately start a campaign to have it
replaced by "freedom bills," maybe something like Monopoly money.
Jackson's head seems awfully big to me.
It's about time the U.S. caught up with the rest of the world and
started using different colors and sizes for bills of different
denominations.
As for the euro, I heard that the "buildings" depicted on the notes
are just abstract designs rather than depictions of real structures.
This was done to avoid squabbling between the EU member nations over
whose national icons should be used on the currency. But I love the
Euro. It sure makes travelling in Europe easier.
Bill is right--look at Jackson's shoulder's. His head is freakishly large.
Germany had Karl Friedrich Gauss on a bill once. That was freakin'
cool. If Gauss lived in my country I'd want his face on the money. As
it is I'll settle for Mark Twain.
Different sizes for bills would be completely out of the question
since it would require a complete mechanical redesign of cash registers
and vending machines.
Most of the engineering that went into the Sacagawea dollar was just
to get it to work in coin-operated machines calibrated for the Susan B.
Anthony dollar (coin-op manufacturers were a major political force
behind the new dollar coin-- strangely enough, considering that many
vending machines don't even take dollar coins).
Different sizes for bills would be completely out of the question
since it would require a complete mechanical redesign of cash registers
and vending machines.
This is silly. How do you think they overcame these problems in
Europe when the euro was introduced? For cash registers, it would
require at worst an updated drawer layout. For vending machines, it
would require at worst a change in the bill-handling mechanism. Vending
machines have been updated in the past to add support for paper money
and for new coins, like the dollar coin. And there would probably be an
extended period of time when the new currency coexisted with the old
one, to allow time for these changes to be made.
Go ahead - make fun of Jackson. Wait until
you learn whose picture will be on the c-note.
Hint: aWol
Bill is right--look at Jackson's shoulder's. His head is freakishly large.
That's a raised collar, not a shoulder. Notice there's no neck showing?
I'm surprised at the Bureau's stated intention of redesigning bills
every 7 to 10 years. Doesn't that kind of destabilize things, making it
so the general public isn't quite sure what paper money is supposed to
look like, because several different designs would be in circulation
simultaneously? Or am I mistaken and the expected life-span of a bill
is under the 7-10 year cycle they suggest?
Ed, Denmark has been doing that for decades, and there is no problem.
There are a period where both types are in circulation, but after a
fairly short period, only the new ones are around. Of course, we have a
lot less currency around, so the transition period would probably be
longer in the US.
We have old and new 5s, 10s, 20s and 100s. Nobody gets confused. I
suppose if you changed size, color and the designs on the front and back
it might cause a stir. As long as the denomination is printed on the
bill, we'll manage.
Then again, not too long ago I was in a McDonald's and paid with a
traveler's check. The cashiers didn't know what a traveler's check was.
They had to call the manager over to tell them to just treat it like
cash.
And I still think Jackson's head is HUGE.
I remember talking to a Briton about their money being different
colors and sizes, and he asked me: "How can you tell yours apart?"
Well, they have these numbers in the corners, see....
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