Guess what? Dollar bills are made of cotton

CNN Money ^ | Mar 8, 2011 | Parija Kavilanz,

[KeyLargo]

Guess what? Dollar bills are made of cotton

The record run-up in cotton prices is making it more expensive to make T-shirts, socks and -- get this -- even dollar bills.

By Parija Kavilanz, senior writerMarch 8, 2011: 9:26 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Sure, packs of T-shirts and socks are getting expensive because of skyrocketing cotton prices. Guess what else is made of cotton? The dollar bill in your wallet.

In 2010, the cost of making one note jumped 50% from what it cost the government in 2008.

The government produced 6.4 billion new currency notes last year. Each one cost 9.6 cents to produce, including the cost of paper and printing.

In 2008, it only cost 6.4 cents a note, a tiny bit more than it did in 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

With the price of raw cotton at a 140-year high, things could get worse.

[KeyLargo]

[Vigilanteman]

Personally, I could live without paper dollars. The presidential coins are a very attractive alternative. And there are millions of $2 bills which could fill cashier’s drawers in the far right slot.

[Lazamataz]

Coins are worth more for the metal, than the value.

Will dollars be worth more for the cotton, then the value?

[Huck]

First time I've seen a number for actual dollars. I figured most of it was actually just credits going into the electronic accounts of the few powerful and politically connected investment banks, and that that money generally was not circulating. The greedheads were sitting on it. This cash has to be in circulation, no?

[KeyLargo]

Obama should be arrested and charged with counterfeiting for printing worthless money.

Counterfeiter sentenced to 27 months prison
By AP News
Monday, March 07, 2011

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A southwestern Illinois man accused of using a printer to turn bleached $5 bills into $100 bills has been ordered to spend two years and three months in federal prison.A U.S. District Court judge in East St. Louis also fined 25-year-old Raphael Solomon of Chester $1,000 and ordered him to pay $1,500 in restitution.Solomon pleaded guilty in November to one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency.Authorities say Solomon bought a printer in December 2009 and used it to make the bogus $100 bills he then passed in various Randolph County-area stores.The felony charge had carried a possible 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

http://www.560wind.com/article.aspx?id=4eb54dd5-37e3-4e2f-8851-5f798a9b30d8&catid=-999

[ponygirl]

I also figured it was just digital printing. I check every $20 that goes across my palm and I haven’t found a single one printed after 2007. I don’t encounter too many $50s or $100s...maybe that’s all they’re printing.

[12Gauge687]

The fact that currency is made from cotton is not really news. The folks at CNN need to get a grip. However, the increase in price is pretty astounding.

The cuurency paper has been made by Crane’s for umpteen years. A while back, a former girlfriend dug out a ‘thank you’ card, made by Crane’s, I had sent her after graduating from business school (1985). Unlike other paper keepsakes that also had been wet after basement flooding, the card was still in one piece.

[TomGuy]

When it gets in too much hot water, its value shrinks in the dryer, too.

Maybe, the FED should switch to pre-shrunk cotton.

[chesley]

A new take on “not worth the paper it’s printed on”

[Huck]

Isn't how all this fed bank stuff works? Quantitative easing? They flood the banks with liquidity, hoping it will get loaned out into the economy. Pushing a string, it seems to me. If the drive and incentive isn't truly there, the money just sits there doing nothing. Or the greedy banksters eat it for dinner.

[Atlas Sneezed]

It’s time once again to trot out my currency and coinage reform proposal.

Given that there has been ample inflation on the order of 10 since the last change, and we have an excessive array of confusing coins and low-value currency, it is time for a practical simplification.

First, denominations need to proceed in a proportional way without large value ratios or crowded ratios. The classic 1-5-10-50-100... progression with ratios of 2.0-5.0 is ideal as a minimum, with denominations of 2, 20, etc. being optional for important valuations.

Second, we want to avoid coins of such low value that they are more trouble than they are worth. Economic waste occurs with the extra time wasted dealing with needlessly small coins. A dime is worth less than a minute of labor at minimum wages, and no currency transaction requires anything smaller than this denomination. The penny and the half-cent served well as the smallest denominations when their values were that of today’s dime. (Note to any economic imbeciles: electronic transactions are often conducted in smaller units than our smallest coin, and that cash registers have been “rounding” - without bias up or down - to the nearest small coin for sales tax purposes for generations. Google “sales tax rounding” if you have doubts and read a few articles).

Third, we want to set the coin/currency transition at a practical level that avoids our wallets being overstuffed with small bills, or our pockets with too many coins. Coins should be suitable for purchases like a magazine, a coffee, a lunch, or a brief cab ride.

Fourth, the ratio between the largest and smallest coin should be limited to a practical factor. Consider that the economy functions effectively with coins at 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25, with pennies treated as trash, and larger coins generally not used. That is a factor of 5 between the largest and smallest coin. A factor of 10-50 may be ideal, and a factor of 100 (as in actual current coinage) is excessive.

Fifth, we need bills of adequately high value for large cash purchases (consider the largest Euro note has a value of about 6.5 times that of the largest US note.)

Sixth, coins should be sized approximately proportional to their value for ease of recognition and use.

The proposal:

Coins:
$0.10 (slightly smaller than the current dime)
$0.50 (slightly smaller than the current nickel, larger than the penny)
$1.00 (slightly smaller than the current quarter dollar, larger than the nickel)
$5.00 (slightly smaller than the current half-dollar) Or it could be set at $2 to avoid overlap with a $5 note.

Currency Notes:
$5 (optional)
$10
$20 (optional)
$50
$100
$500

Our current 6 coins are replaced with 4.
Our current 7 notes are replaced with 4-6.

If you want to talk about making coins out of silver or gold, I’m even more enthusiastic:

$1000 gold coin (1 oz)
$500 gold coin (1/2 oz)
$100 gold coin (1/10 oz)
$20 silver coin (1 oz)
$10 silver coin (1/2 oz)
$2 silver coin (1/10 oz)
$1 copper or base metal coin (1/2 oz)
$0.50 copper or base metal coin (1/4 oz)
$0.10 copper or base metal coin (1/10 oz)

[TomGuy]

I can’t even remember the last time I used ‘cash’ to make a purchase.

I use debit cards, credit cards, checks, online bill pay, bank transfers, etc. It is all electronic.

A few years ago, I had to write out a check. I flubbed the first attempt, because it had been ages since I had physically written out a check.

[Red Badger]

So, Dollars are racist?.................

[Red Badger]

Keep ya’lls cotton pickin’ hands off my dollars!....................

[ThomasThomas]

The ave lifespan

Coins - 30 years

$ 1 bill - 22 months

$ 5 bill - 24 months

$ 10 bill - 18 months

$ 20 bill - 25 months

$ 50 bill - 55 months

$100 bill - 60 months

[Red Badger]

[ErnBatavia]

Try a dollar coin - or a two dollar bill - with the young cashier at McDonald’s sometime......heh

[RockinRight]

I rarely carry cash either.

[RockinRight]

I rarely carry cash, but I LOVE the $1 coins. I don’t know why other people don’t like them.

[faucetman]

Modern Marvels episode Cotton. ... Three quarters of “paper” money is actually composed of cotton. Much of this cotton comes from denim scraps left over from jeans manufacturing. ...