Shouts of joy heard last week might well have been upon learning a redesigned $100 bill will begin filtering through cash registers and wallets Oct. 8. That was certainly the type of news that puts a smile on many faces. Yes, for a nation battered by rotten news, it takes something like a new $100 bill and reassurance that Saturday mail delivery will continue to put things in perspective.
For those who may not have heard the glad tidings, on April 24 the Federal Reserve Board made the announcement of a C-note with good old Ben Franklin’s likeness gazing glibly at its bearer.
According to the nation’s money minions, that latest bit of currency “incorporates new security features such as a blue, 3-D security ribbon, will be easier for the public to authenticate but more difficult for counterfeiters to replicate.” Difficult, perhaps, but I would imagine the ruffians who ridicule the national engravers have already tried to second guess how best to beat the system and produce a fake bill.
Many moons ago, the Secret Service held a local seminar to enlighten merchants on what to look for in spotting bogus bills, of which there are many. Skilled money handlers, such as bank tellers, who daily handle loot, can usually feel a fraud without even looking at it. There’s a feel to a phony bill, although the reproduction may be exquisite.
As with cheese and fine wine, the new design for the $100 note took time, more than was expected, to be sure. For those who have long anticipated the latest greenback, and have wondered where they’ve been ensconced, the design was unveiled in 2010.
But, well, you know, this is America the way it is. Few things work as they’re supposed to work and deadlines are a dirty word. Hence, “introduction was postponed following an unexpected production delay,” according to the website www.newmoney.gov. For those who can no longer wait to see what the “new” Ben Franklin will look like once it hits the street, visit that website. It will tell more than you will ever want to know about the bill.
To be certain, the new C-note won’t be foisted upon an unknowing populace. “To ensure a smooth transition to the redesigned note when it begins circulating in October, the U.S. Currency Education Program is reaching out to businesses and consumers around the world to raise awareness about the new design and inform them about how to use its security features. More information about the new design $100 note, as well as training and educational materials, can be found at www.newmoney.gov.”
I think it would be a grand public relations coup if the U.S. Treasury could arrange to have one of those new $100 bills sent to each and every one of us on opening day. That way, we would not have to wait until we earned one to see what that old “new” Philadelphian looks like in his latest reinvention.
Reading through the release about the new bill brought back a crystalline recollection about a $100 bill.
Indulge me for but a moment for a thought back in time.
Engaged to be wed at the time, my beloved spouse, at the time an employee of the First National Bank of Cape May Court House, and I attended a gala Christmas party for the bank’s faithful workers at Henny’s Restaurant in Stone Harbor. While all such celebrations are good, that one sticks in my mind for a number of reasons, one of them being the statement by one of the top executives, “And in your next pay there will be a crisp, new $100 bill as a bonus.” I’ve never been with a lottery winner who just learned of his or her good fortune, but it could not compare with the clamor that ensued after that announcement.
Wow! A $100 bill, oh my gosh.
Okay, so I have dated us, but just to think not all that long ago a $100 bonus was a truly generous gift. Try that at a modern office party and the room would probably clear out after the laughter died. “Just a hundred bucks? Are you kidding me? You’re a cheapskate!” I can imagine the disgruntled merrymakers railing.
To be sure, solons who sit in ivory towers, and decide such stuff as remaking our currency, (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it) are probably far wiser than we know. Whatever the remake of old Ben cost (face it, it wasn’t done for free by the engravers and designers) will be chalked up as chump change.
Ben, an avowed lady’s man (if you don’t believe me read his autobiography) gets redone while our illustrious first president, George, who held the fledging army and nation together with prayer and good fortune, remains on the humble $1 bill, and that, my friend, will remain unchanged and unadorned.
I suppose it’s been deemed too low on the monetary food chain to earn a redesign. Having withstood the “outrageous slings and arrows” of change by those who envisioned the $1 coin would, by this time, have kicked old George back to Mount Vernon, the humble $1 bill will remain. Yes, it will be around worth less, seemingly, with each passing day, unchanged in design. Pity poor old George.
Those $1 coins, handy for little more than tossing into toll booths for those (like me) too chintzy to fork over funds for an EZ-Pass, will doubtless outlive the humble paper dollar, but will never, ever gain respect from the masses.
As the lowly dollar dwindles in value, perhaps we will be ever more accustomed to seeing Ben Franklin in our wallet. If things keep going at the present pace, we might just need Ben and a few of his mates to buy bread and eggs at the market or gas at the pump. The countdown is on, coming to a wallet near you.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
