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Nah, it's the Australian $100. Been around since 1996 and you don't need as many per executive bonus.

The page with everything linked on it
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07.html
Estimates of Uncertainty around the RBA's Forecasts
Abstract:

We use past forecast errors to construct confidence intervals and other estimates of uncertainty around the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecasts of key macroeconomic variables. Our estimates suggest that uncertainty about forecasts is high. We find that the RBA's forecasts have substantial explanatory power for the inflation rate but not for GDP growth.

Download the Paper [PDF 713K] and the Data.
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/pdf/rdp2012-07.pdf
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07-data.html

Licence
http://www.rba.gov.au/copyright/index.html

The page with everything linked on it
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07.html
Estimates of Uncertainty around the RBA's Forecasts
Abstract:

We use past forecast errors to construct confidence intervals and other estimates of uncertainty around the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecasts of key macroeconomic variables. Our estimates suggest that uncertainty about forecasts is high. We find that the RBA's forecasts have substantial explanatory power for the inflation rate but not for GDP growth.

Download the Paper [PDF 713K] and the Data.
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/pdf/rdp2012-07.pdf
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07-data.html

Licence
http://www.rba.gov.au/copyright/index.html

The page with everything linked on it
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07.html
Estimates of Uncertainty around the RBA's Forecasts
Abstract:

We use past forecast errors to construct confidence intervals and other estimates of uncertainty around the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecasts of key macroeconomic variables. Our estimates suggest that uncertainty about forecasts is high. We find that the RBA's forecasts have substantial explanatory power for the inflation rate but not for GDP growth.

Download the Paper [PDF 713K] and the Data.
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/pdf/rdp2012-07.pdf
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07-data.html

Licence
http://www.rba.gov.au/copyright/index.html

The page with everything linked on it
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07.html
Estimates of Uncertainty around the RBA's Forecasts
Abstract:

We use past forecast errors to construct confidence intervals and other estimates of uncertainty around the Reserve Bank of Australia's forecasts of key macroeconomic variables. Our estimates suggest that uncertainty about forecasts is high. We find that the RBA's forecasts have substantial explanatory power for the inflation rate but not for GDP growth.

Download the Paper [PDF 713K] and the Data.
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/pdf/rdp2012-07.pdf
http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2012/2012-07-data.html

Licence
http://www.rba.gov.au/copyright/index.html

Australia used to have something called the "no-surcharge rule", that is, merchants were not allowed to pass on credit card surcharges (strictly speaking, they weren't allowed to charge different prices based on the usage or not of a credit card).

Of course, deprived of the ability to pass on card surcharges, merchants pass it on in the form of higher prices.

Do you see where this is going? No-surcharge rules essentially act as a subsidy to credit-card users , because the cost of their surcharges is pushed onto all of that merchant's buyers.

So the greatest benefit will accrue to people who buy the most on their credit cards. Who spends the most on their credit cards? Rich people, that's who.

No-surcharge rules are subsidies to rich people. Get it?

It is very very very durable, furthermore it is one of the hardest currencies to counterfeit. We have a small plastic window with embossing on the INSIDE of the plastic in the corners of our notes that make the copying process that much harder. Not to mention some crazy methods of microprinting and florescent text under blacklight that allows it to become that much harder to copy than straight up American notes. http://www.rba.gov.au/banknotes/counterfeit/index.html

I see vast open space on my commute to work and every time I travel.

I've seen almost the same words on several post, how can so called "educated" people be so ignorant about where their food comes from? The empty space you see is called "farmland", there would be no city for you to commute to without it. Globally, we have run out of new farmland, food prices have sky-rocketed over the last decade causing food riots in many places, including Mexico which borders the US. The only thing that will stop this from becoming worse as our population grows is a new green revolution that does not depend on oil to create fertiliser.

It is unfortunate that dollars obtained from stupid people are just as green and spend just as well as money obtained from those who make intelligent purchasing decisions.

Australia phased out green money (the $2 note) in 1988. Maybe that's why we're having such difficulties with Carbon Credits and the Green Economy.

I was referring to the physiological inhibition that most people have against murder, not the ease with which a murder can be carried out if you lack that inhibition.

Crime is 99% opportunity 1% motivation. Murder is not an exception. Most murders are crimes of opportunity commuted by people who had no intent to kill, this fact is conveniently ignored by such a black and white, normal/abnormal thinking.

If all murders were abnormal and all normal people were not capable of murdering someone then shootings in armed holdups.

Murder like all other crimes, in fact all other aspects of human behaviour cannot be put into such black and white terms.

I'm sorry but that just isn't the case.

Yes it is. A bullet will stop everyone with a few rare exceptions under extreme conditions. Even if the walking wounded thing More people die from accidental gunshots then accidental knife wounds, the same is true for deliberately inflicted wounds.

What new restrictions do you think need to be added and why?

There are many but I'll stop at licensing. Licensing gun users gives the same assurances that licensing car users does. It ensures that the barer knows how to operate the firearm and the laws governing their usage. This will cut down on accidents more then crimes but gun accidents are the big killers and the easiest to avoid. I'd also suggest mandating by law correct storage of firearms (unloaded in a locked cabinet bolted to the foundations) but Licensing on its own would be a huge improvement.

Licensing is a two fold thing, as a licences gun user in Australia I can walk into almost any range, put my license and one of these down, walk into the stalls and the nice attendant will hand me a .45 and a clip. No need to fill out any kind of stat dec, undergo a safety course or have an attendant watch over me to make sure I'm not a danger to anyone else. Unlike most US gun users I'll happily admit I only shoot for the fun of it, they can call me a "sports shooter" if it makes them feel better.

I think you are roaming a little bit away from the point.

Maybe, probably, but there was a point in there.

Where did I say that violence should ever be the first solution?

You didn't state otherwise, your post came across as saying that. I definitely detected a "violence is necessary" undercurrent in your writings.

There is no such limit.

Certainly true for the US, but, not true for some other parts of the world.

The current interest rate in Australia is 7.25%. Even adding a few percent for bank profit should not bring the rate up to 13%. Maybe your friend should consider refinancing his/her loan?

I must profess not to know the situation in the US, but in Australia it is possible to outpace inflation by depositing money in a bank. Just taking a quick look at what might be a typical savings account[1] from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (a major bank here in Australia), you can earn an annual effective interest rate of 3.04% p.a. as long as you make one deposit each month and no withdrawals (a reasonable practice for a savings account). If I were to put my money in an ING Term Deposit for 1 year, I could earn 7.5% p.a.[3] By comparison, the current CPI inflation rate according to the Reserve Bank of Australia[2] is 1.9% p.a. and has not gone above 4% for the last 3 years.

It is true that money under the mattress is a terrible investment strategy, as money is the only financial instrument that depreciates over time. A good way to save your money would be to put it into something of actual value, be it commodities like gold, or an interest-bearing bank account (which has actual value because the bank can use your money to finance profitable ventures, giving real value back). But that does not change the fact that money is a great medium for the measure and transfer of value across space (not time).

Having something used only for measuring value, and nothing else, allows us to decouple the measure of value from unrelated market forces which may be operating on a commodity currency. The money value of a meat pie today is unrelated to the supply and demand of gold, or any other metal you might use to back a currency. I would consider that a good thing. Fiat currency also has a nice side-effect of letting governments exploit market inefficiencies to stimulate the economy during hard times.

Money does not store value, it only measures it.
-----
[1] http://www.commbank.com.au/personal/accounts/awardsaver/rates-fees/default.aspx
[2] http://www.rba.gov.au/
[3] http://ingdirect.com.au/savings/our_products/term_deposits.htm

You think? They're either gouging or they're incompetent. According to monthly data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, there have only been seven(!) months since 1969 when the USD/AUD exchange rate is equivalent to Lego's purported exchange rate (and they were all in 2001.) Maybe they think we're all backward yokels that don't understand such complex things as foreign exchange rates....

I've no problem with their decision to charge a USD$499 price point. What is annoying is that the exchange rates they are using for their international currencies are not even close to reality.

The big problem with USA notes is that not only are they the same size, but they are the same colour. There have already been studies showing the interpretation of text on a bank note is actually done after colour or size. This is why many countries use both size and distinct colour (blue vs green, as opposed to green vs some other shade of green) as clues to their different values. Examples: The EU bank notes does both, the UK bank notes are different colour, as are the Canadian bank notes are also of different colour. Add to all this the Australian bank notes, which are not only different colours, but are made out of plastic!!!

This is an Australian invention. It will handle Red Green and Blue Equally.

This is an Australian invention. It will handle Red Green and Blue Equally.

This is an Australian invention. It will handle Red Green and Blue Equally.

Agreed, and while you're at it replace your $1 notes (and the rare $2 notes) with coins!

In Australia, we phased out our 1c and 2c coins about 15 years ago; I think it was mainly a cost-saving measure - and nobody wanted to deal with piddly small change. (The remaining coinage contains between 75% and 92% copper, depending on the denomination, so that fact the 1c and 2c coins were copper is coincidental.)

The $1 note was replaced with a $1 coin in 1984, and the $2 note was replaced by a coin in 1988. Again, I believe it was a cost-saving measure - the low denominations had a high turnover rate from wear (like the US $1 note), coins are much more durable. There were other spin-offs e.g. use in vending machines.

Similarly, the old paper notes were replaced with polymer ones from 1992 (though the first, a commemorative $10 note, was released in 1988 for the bicentennial.) Polymer lasts longer and is much harder to counterfeit.

...and about a 3% GDP growth rate. Pretty mediocre by U.S. standards, really; we haven't had an unemployment rate as high as yours since about 1985, and moreover, our GDP growth rate tends to average around 3-3.5% per year. We employ more people more often and tend to grow faster all the while.

Nevertheless, compare Finland with current figures for:

* Germany -- a 10.6% unemployment rate presently, and rising, along with a mere 1.7% GDP growth rate.

* Norway -- 4.3% unemployment, 3.3% GDP growth.

* Sweden -- 5.6% unemployment rate, 3.6% GDP growth.

* U.S. -- 5.5% unemployment, 4.4% GDP growth.

* U.K. -- 4.8% unemployment, 3.2% GDP growth.

* Switzerland -- 3.4% unemployment, 1.8% GDP growth.

* Japan -- 4.7% unemployment, 2.9% GDP growth.

* Hong Kong -- 6.7% unemployment, and a torrid 7.9% GDP growth.

All figures taken from the CIA World Factbook (of course, place your own value on stats coming from the same U.S. government agency that overthrows democratic nations, lies on-demand, and kills people on a whim)...

With India's real GDP growth rate averaging 6.1% over the last ten years, I think we can all agree that they are doing something right.

Obviously the government doesn't get big money from the peasants. Agriculture in India, which most of the poor people are involved in, is only responsible for 25% of GDP. 25% of the GDP comes from manufacturing, and 50% of Indian GDP comes from services (think: call centers, software outsourcing, etc.)

And the Aussie ones.

We changed our notes about a decade ago here in Australia, and as far as I know they are effectively impossible to counterfeit properly. Obviously a smaller economy/population that the US, but I don't recall any significant problem with the changeover. The new notes were introduced gradually, starting from the $5 up.
More details on the security features:
Here.

every bill has braille ...

No braille, but the notes have intaglio print (raised ink) so that you can feel the design; this may be of use to the blind to identify the note.
The different length of notes was to allow the use of a note gauge - insert the note, read the braille value that remains exposed.

Here is a list of the security features of Australian banknotes.

How many people do you know who have a supply of plastic to print on that feels like a real Aussie note? That and the clear windows make it pretty hard for the casual back yard counterfieter to produce these on there canon bubble jet.

How many people do you know who have a supply of plastic to print on that feels like a real Aussie note? That and the clear windows make it pretty hard for the casual back yard counterfieter to produce these on there canon bubble jet.

It's a never ending game. As E. E. Smith said, what physical science can devise, physical science can analyse and reproduce. We just have to keep moving the bar higher than the counterfeiters can easily reach. If the typical US bank note is too easily copied by technology available to the home user, then it's time for the typical US bank note to be updated. Not for the technology to be crippled...

It's a never ending game. As E. E. Smith said, what physical science can devise, physical science can analyse and reproduce. We just have to keep moving the bar higher than the counterfeiters can easily reach. If the typical US bank note is too easily copied by technology available to the home user, then it's time for the typical US bank note to be updated. Not for the technology to be crippled...

As discussed in Plastic Money at the Questacon, the main feature of plastic currency is that it's hard to reproduce by its nature. It's also more durable than paper money.

The ink is resistant to washing, and you can't print on the plastic using conventional printers (ink, dye, laser). You can even put metallic threads (aka RFID tags) in the plastic. The whole note is plastic, so the whole note can be transparent and holographic.

The hardest part about switching to pretty coloured plastic money is convincing people that it's still real money. It's funny watching Americans visiting Australia trying to come to grips with our weird currency - I think the one thing that confuses most of them is that different denominations are different sizes. So a $50 note is larger than a $20 note for example. Want to know more?

More Info on security features in Australian currency, from the Reserve Bank.

Yeb the Oz mint now makes polymer notes for:

Australia
Bangladesh
Brazil
Brunei
China
Indo nesia
Kuwait
Malaysia
Mexico
New Zealand
Nepal
Northern Island
Papua New Guinea
Romania
Singapore
Soloman Islands
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Western Samoa

They even took out a partnership with a Belgium company during development & formed a joint venture (Securency)in the hope of gaining the Euro contract , but the national mints didn't want to lose out.

The polymer sheets are made in a huge rould building, like a gas storage tank, about the size of a footy oval, where the plastic's blown into balloons that fill the room & then collapse into sheets. They can be recycled too.

As you can see here the colours are very distinguishable from each other, the clear part on each note is in fact a transparent hologram.

Yeb the Oz mint now makes polymer notes for:

Australia
Bangladesh
Brazil
Brunei
China
Indo nesia
Kuwait
Malaysia
Mexico
New Zealand
Nepal
Northern Island
Papua New Guinea
Romania
Singapore
Soloman Islands
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Western Samoa

They even took out a partnership with a Belgium company during development & formed a joint venture (Securency)in the hope of gaining the Euro contract , but the national mints didn't want to lose out.

The polymer sheets are made in a huge rould building, like a gas storage tank, about the size of a footy oval, where the plastic's blown into balloons that fill the room & then collapse into sheets. They can be recycled too.

As you can see here the colours are very distinguishable from each other, the clear part on each note is in fact a transparent hologram.

Newer ones have Sir Henry Parkes and Catherine Helen Spence

Newer ones have Sir Henry Parkes and Catherine Helen Spence

The Aussie notes are amongst the best in the world, IMO.

Different colours for different values.

Different sizes for different values.

They're based on Polymer. Put one through the wash, it comes out looking like new. Well, almost.

Some extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting techniques.

Our Reserve Bank has even been thoughtful enough to worry about those with vision impairment.

And, they just look cool.

The Aussie notes are amongst the best in the world, IMO.

Different colours for different values.

Different sizes for different values.

They're based on Polymer. Put one through the wash, it comes out looking like new. Well, almost.

Some extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting techniques.

Our Reserve Bank has even been thoughtful enough to worry about those with vision impairment.

And, they just look cool.

The Aussie notes are amongst the best in the world, IMO.

Different colours for different values.

Different sizes for different values.

They're based on Polymer. Put one through the wash, it comes out looking like new. Well, almost.

Some extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting techniques.

Our Reserve Bank has even been thoughtful enough to worry about those with vision impairment.

And, they just look cool.

The Aussie notes are amongst the best in the world, IMO.

Different colours for different values.

Different sizes for different values.

They're based on Polymer. Put one through the wash, it comes out looking like new. Well, almost.

Some extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting techniques.

Our Reserve Bank has even been thoughtful enough to worry about those with vision impairment.

And, they just look cool.

If it's like NZ

Probably, since AU and NZ currency are printed by the same company in Australia -- at least they were a few years ago: press release.

To help assist counterfitters, the Australian Governmebt has equipped this page with pictures of all their currency with a printer friendly version

Nice to see the government goes that extra step to help out the cheaters and counterfitters.

To help assist counterfitters, the Australian Governmebt has equipped this page with pictures of all their currency with a printer friendly version

Nice to see the government goes that extra step to help out the cheaters and counterfitters.

More info and pictures here. Note the clear patches show up as black bits down in the bottom corner.

Australian Currency

Great pics of our Aussie currency. Also includes info on the people on the notes.

I was suprised I had to read down so far to see anything about Australian currency, considering it was the first country in the world to use entirely polymer notes for all its money. Here are the notes as we use them.

For those souls who haven't had the pleasure of handling our finest plastic:

Very colourful and effective:
http://www.polymernotes.com/australia.html
and a bit more tongue in cheek:
http://www.caughtatwork.net/ratings/notes.html

We maintain a length differential, distinct colouring, and bold numbering to help those with vision impairment.
http://www.rba.gov.au/CurrencyNotes/vision_impaire d.html

"Polymer notes are also more durable than paper notes (lasting around four times as long), are cleaner and more hygienic, and can be recycled at the end of their useful life into a range of plastic products."

The US should move to Austrialian Type currency.

It has translucent windows.

It's made of plastic so it's virtually indestructable.

The only thing is it costs more to make, but it lasts longer in circulation. Currently, about 95% of new US bills replace old ones.

If anyone is interested in the horses' mouths, here are a few references:

• US Bureau of Engraving: "All coins and currencies of the United States, regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues."
  This statute means that you have made a valid and legal offer of payment of your debt when you tender United States currency to your creditor. However, there is no Federal statute which mandates that private businesses must accept cash as a form of payment. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise.
• Bank of England: The concept of legal tender is often misunderstood. Contrary to popular opinion, legal tender is not a means of payment that must be accepted by the parties to a transaction, but rather a legally defined means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor in satisfaction of a debt.
• Reserve Bank of Australia "...refusal to accept payment in legal tender notes and coins is not unlawful... If a provider of goods or services specifies other means of payment prior to the contract, then there is usually no obligation for legal tender to be accepted as payment....coins are legal tender for payment of amounts which are limited as follows.... not exceeding 10 times the face value if coins in the range 50c to $10 inclusive are offered; and to any value if coins of value greater than $10 are offered.

The Reserve Bank of Australia introduced polymer notes in 1992.

Compared to other currency (especially U.S.) they are very colourful.

At end-of-life they are recycled just like other plastic into flowerpots etc.

The Reserve Bank of Australia introduced polymer notes in 1992.

Compared to other currency (especially U.S.) they are very colourful.

At end-of-life they are recycled just like other plastic into flowerpots etc.