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Treasury Goes High-Tech With Redesigned $100 Bills
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."
pffft. put out a press release when you join the 20th century...
http://www.questacon.edu.au/indepth/clever/plastic_banknotes.html
Wait! Whats a sig?
The idea behind making it hard to reproduce federal reserve notes is to keep counterfeiters from robbing us by expanding the money supply, but the Fed does exactly that on a scale that no independent counterfeiter could even imagine.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Where can I get free samples of this new product?
Presumably to amplify the smoke and mirrors used by the Fed to make it appear the bills are actually worth anything.
The Free Competition in Currency Act and Federal Reserve Transparency Act are good places to start. Talk to your congressman today and ask them to sober up.
Peter
Downsize DC Today!
...that mimics the virtue it symbolises.
The security feature is that they cost more to make than their face value.
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.
Support a few technologists in Washington.
Probably not. In quantities large enough to be worth the risk of Hard Federal Time(tm) coins are heavy and bulky. Plus, fabricating metal objects on any substantial scale is generally more of a pain in the ass, and is rather more visible, than printing paper.
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.
My drug dealer takes them. He won't take change, though.
You are welcome on my lawn.
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.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
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).
"This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
So you do not have to have your own credit card swiping machine and an account with a processor to sell something on craigslist.
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
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.
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.
That weird smile was more likely a knowing "guess who's gettin' mugged later" look.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
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.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
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.
I was talking to an attorney who was trying to explain to me that "dopers" love hot tubs. And said he could get me a good deal on a hot tub or a tanning bed. Anyway, he was representing the guy on an intent to sell charge for marijuana. He said, "I charged him $2500 and he paid me in cash with 20 dollar bills. You think he was guilty?"
It's usually places like parking garages and gas stations that don't want to take them. But fifties seem to be more commonly accepted these days. Even the automated pay stations at the BWI parking garage will take fifties.
Nah, you take 5s and 10s, bleach them, then print 20s on the bleached bills. In the US the way that most places check currency is to mark it with a "magic" pen. If the mark is black it is a good bill. And since the "magic" pen just detects the fact it is genuine money, not the denomination, you can pass 20s all day at convenience stores and grocery stores.Hell, you can pass them in banks if yo mix them with real 20s in a smallish stack (too small for machine counting) They feel just like the rest and look like them unless closely inspected.
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.
Being a spelling & grammar Nazi is a sign you do not poses the intelligence to contribute to the conversation