Should there be $200 and/or $500 bills?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

$100 in 1969 (when larger denominations were officially discontinued) are worth $500 now. Discuss.

[Selatius]

1. Eventually. With fractional reserve banking, inflation is all but impossible to avoid.

Eventually, a loaf of store-brand bread will cost 5.00. I can pick up a Sara Lee brand loaf of bread for roughly 2.50 now. It didn't used to be this expensive. It used to be an equivalent loaf of bread used to cost a quarter back in the day.

The problem is finding a currency that treads the fine line between too much money in circulation and too little money in circulation. The current system fails in this respect.

[RC]

2. $200 - No $500 - Yes

[TahitiNut]

15. " "

:shrug:

[baldguy]

3. Get ready for GOP hyperinflation.

[Skink]

4. we Should all be paid in Walmart check cards.

[yodoobo]

5. $100 bills provide a practical limit to money laundering

Or so I've read anyway.

There is historical precedent for larger bills though


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://starcrest.org/money.htm&h=300&w=711&sz=59&hl=en&start=1&um=1&usg=__EOSgylcMQVc7LHvRItET6ONDu-M=&tbnid=rCjDgu3meRT6WM:&tbnh=59&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3D100,000%2Bbill%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX


http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/denominations.shtml

[Recursion]

10. And counterfeiting NT

[CTyankee]

24. Euros are in 200 and 500 denominations. I haven't heard about any problems

with counterfeiting them.

They also have more coinage which can be annoying til you get used to figuring out quickly the ones and the twos. The paper is smaller which is nice. Only the coins make your wallet heavy. Good for the little tips you leave at cafes.

[rzemanfl]

14. You see a lot of hundreds and fifties at Wal Mart (I was forced

into being in one once about a year ago). A lot of their customers are too poor to have bank accounts and cash paychecks there. I have electronic deposit of my paycheck and get cash from ATMs and stores. Always twenties.

[bluemarkers]

6. Whatever Happened to Penny Candy

is a good book to read. I'm sure it has it flaws, but I feel it helped me understand some of the very basic principles of economics. The odd thing is, since no one really seems to understand these principles, terms are misused in the media all the time. The word inflation does not particularly mean rising prices, but that is what we all think it means.

Since our money isn't tied to anything of value, we are merely passing around tokens. Fortunately we all agree on the value. For people who carry around a lot of money*, larger value bills would be easier, but we shouldn't print more money. Bad bad idea. imo of course.

*I don't personally have this affliction

[swishyfeet]

7. Who the heck carries Benjamins now?

Stores don't want them and ATM's don't give them. Hand 100 of them to your local banker and big brother requires they report you to the IRS.

I haven't carried a hundred dollar bill more then two or three times in the last decade...

[rzemanfl]

8. Hundreds and fifties were good "emergency money" in the

days before debit cards and ATMs. I always carried a fifty or a hundred in an out of the way spot in my wallet for years. I stopped doing that maybe fifteen years ago, about the same time I stopped carrying my checkbook in my coat pocket.

[curse of greyface]

9. I get them from the bank on occasion. Outside of the stop and slurp most

retailers take them.

THis is no reporting to the IRS for using a 100 bill.

I have no idea why you would think that.

[rzemanfl]

11. Poster was referrring to 100 of them ($10,000) which is a cash

transaction that must be reported.

[curse of greyface]

13. Yeah but that has nothing to do with bill size. You would need to report 500 $20 nt

[stevedeshazer]

12. I'd be much happier with discontinuing $1 and $5 bills

Coins last much longer and it's cheaper.

Canada has the loonie and the twonie and there's no problem there.

After thirty years of Republicanism, I'll never live long enough to have more than pocket change anyway.

[RC]

21. I've walked around with a bulging pocket full of change because of the

loonies and twonies. Think of paper ones most people carry around down here and replace them with 50¢ sized coins. I don't have much problem with metal money down here, but I sure do in Canada.

[salguine]

16. No. There just isn't any need for it.

[shadowknows69]

17. Don't care, I rarely even get to see Ben Franklin

Why give anyone an excuse to put W on a bill anyway. You know some yahoo will do it.

[roamer65]

18. They won't issue them because of the "problem" tracking printed currency.

They want all large transactions to be electronic transfers, so they can stick their noses into your business.

[MercutioATC]

19. They should bring back the $1000 bill.

I've carried large sums of cash once or twice in my life (all legal) and $20k is a pretty big roll of hundreds.

[The Inquisitive]

20. No real need anymore

Most transactions over $100 are credit or debit.

[aikoaiko]

22. Good idea, my wallet is too fat as it is.

;)

[Dukkha]

23. I can't recall the last time I paid cash for anything

US currency is used a lot in South American countries therefore higher currency bills would contribute to more laundering and counterfeiting. The US Mint has been so effective at fighting this on the $100 bill they had to resort to measures against counterfeiting on the $20, $10, and $5.

and it will give them an opportunity to put their demigod reagan on a bill and we don't want that (unless it's a $3 bill)