In For A Penny

I can't believe I forgot about this song. Slade was very popular in Britain in the 70s and early 80s, but unfortunately never became very popular here in the US.  It's unfortunate, because these guys rock, and I remember loving them in the early eighties, and I'm still a fan. Long live SLADE!

The Cool Kids

Get on your Hip Hop groove and listen to Pennies by the Cool Kids.

Falling Pennies

I'm not sure why I got a kick out of this video.  Maybe it's the guy's voice.  Maybe it's the Statue of Liberty comment. Whatever it is, enjoy it.

US Currency

So, the most printed and widely distributed bill is the $1 bill, but coming in a close second is the $100 bill. The least printed is the $2 bill.  The reason there are so many $100 bills out there stems from several factors. First, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been printing a larger and larger percentage of $100 bills. So now if you take the dollar value of all the US currency (coins included) out in circulation right now, $100 bills make up more than 75% of the total...and its percentage is continuing to rise! (As a side note, some sources claim that 50-75% of these $100 bills are not even in the US. They are overseas! This is somewhat understandable, since the US dollar is still the world's reserve currency.) Second, Larger denominations were printed up until the 1940's, and were still in circulation until 1969. So when the $100 bill became the largest bill in circulation, it had the purchasing power of more than $500 in today's economy.  But the Fed is not going to print any larger denominations. Why not? Well, while most of the $100 bills outside the US are used in legitimate business transactions, it is also used by drug cartels, and I don't think the US government wants to fund illegal drugs any more than it already is.  Remember, those drug lords have to launder those millions and millions of dollars somehow, but until they can, it just piles up. So if the fed started printing $500 and $1000 bills, then the stacks of illegal drug money would be physically smaller and more portable. Third, because of inflation, $100 bills are used more and more in everyday transactions.  Grocery bills for even a small family, can be over $100 dollars.  Dinner for 2 to 4 at a nice restaurant can run about $100. Many electronic devices are several hundred dollars. There are probably many more factors, but no matter how you look at it, soon there will be more $100 bills out there than $1 bills.  What the fed needs to do, is get rid of the $1 bill altogether, and encourage use of electronic transactions even more.  I think EVERYBODY needs to have a debit card or at least a prepaid credit card.  We need to move more quickly to--maybe not a cashless society--but a low-cash society.  We need to get rid of pennies, nickels, dimes, and $1 and $2 bills altogether.  Then move to getting everyone to a cashless transaction status, and significantly reduce the amount of currency that is printed and circulated. Let's get moving!