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The New $50 Bill
Apr. 26th, 2004 12:34 pmApparently they've finished the design of a new 50-dollar bill. There's now the suggestion of an American flag in the background, in shades of red and blue. As with the new $20 bill, the object is to stop counterfeiters.
It makes me wonder, though, why in the world do we still have fifties? I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw one. Every once in a while I do get a fifty or a hundred dollar bill in a red envelope for a birthday or Christmas, but in the norm of my life, I see twenties, tens, fives, ones, and rectangular bits of plastic.
I suppose fifties had their place in a past generation, before checks, credit cards, mortgages, ATM cards, and other financial advances caused people to stop carrying around wads of money. I suppose they'll have a place in a future generation, when inflation has geared up enough that ATMs start dispensing fifties rather than twenties (but, by that point, we'll also have turned dollars into coins).
But why in the world are fifties and hundreds sufficiently worthwhile in today's US to not just keep them in circulation, but also expensively redesign them?
Cash is such a crude conveyance for large sums of money ...
It makes me wonder, though, why in the world do we still have fifties? I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw one. Every once in a while I do get a fifty or a hundred dollar bill in a red envelope for a birthday or Christmas, but in the norm of my life, I see twenties, tens, fives, ones, and rectangular bits of plastic.
I suppose fifties had their place in a past generation, before checks, credit cards, mortgages, ATM cards, and other financial advances caused people to stop carrying around wads of money. I suppose they'll have a place in a future generation, when inflation has geared up enough that ATMs start dispensing fifties rather than twenties (but, by that point, we'll also have turned dollars into coins).
But why in the world are fifties and hundreds sufficiently worthwhile in today's US to not just keep them in circulation, but also expensively redesign them?
Cash is such a crude conveyance for large sums of money ...