Why new $20 Bills ???

[Howard]

OK, about three years ago the government came out with new currency because the claimed it was getting too easy with digital technology to counterfeit the old currency. We all accepted that at face value. Now they again are coming out with new $20 bills because it is getting easy to counterfeit the old "new" bills. Perhaps I buy that, but there is one major flaw in their thinking. Since they never call-in all old currency it is still legal tender. Thus, why don't the counterfeiters just keep making the old currency - it is still legal tender. What have they really accomplished by printing new bills except to make us spend money to upgrade our equipment???

[Alex5000]

Howard,

Actually they do "call in" the old money. The paper money gets cycled through the various Federal Reserve Banks around the country. When the old bills come in they replace them with the new ones. Most banks will send the bills to the Federal Reserve and they get new currency back. It actually does not take very long and eventually the old bills are removed and destroyed.

[Howard]

That is not strictly true. In other countries they call in the money, and after a period of time the old money is no longer valid and has no value if not turned in during the transition time period. If you check the government's web site you will see that the government has never recalled paper money and any bill ever issued is still valid.

You are correct that banks turn in old bills, but if you or I keep one in our desk drawer for 50 years it will still be legal to use it 50 years from now - unless the laws are changed.

[Alex5000]

Yes of course if you kept that $20.00 for fifty years it is still legal tender. This is the great thing about this country, they issued that money and they stand by it. It's like a commitment thing. After all we are not in Bulgaria are we!

If the gov't issued new 20's without getting out of circulation the old stuff then it would eventually lead to ever more higher inflation. Such is the case when any gov't prints more and more money to pay their bills.

[Howard]

The government never gets all the old bills out of circulation, that is the whole point. If they did we would not have a huge underground economy. Just think, if all old money were called in and people were told that as of Jan 1. 2005 any money issued before Jan 1 2004 would be worthless there would be a huge influx of money to the government as people converted their unreported hordes of cash into bank deposits. We could solve the entire deficit, pay for Iraq, make social security solvent and pave the streets of New York in gold.

So Alex, you still did not answer the question - what state are you located in and what equipment do you sell.

[Alex5000]

I'm not sure what your point is by harping on this. I guess you don't have a whole lot else to do with your time.

You made the claim that old money was not called in. I stated that it was, just not in the way you thought. Then you said that "not all old money was called in." The fact is it does not have to. Think about it, how much do you see the old green 20's circulating? How much do you see in your changer? The fact is there is not much. After only a few months with the new bills, I never saw the old green ones again. The possibility that someone would want to keep the old currency for posterity is not a big issue. If someone wanted to print some of the old bills again, then the banks, feds & Secret Service would pick up on it. They would pick up on it because there would not be that much of that style in circulation and it would be very hard for the fake currency to pass muster.

As for comments on the other board, I never said I endorse distributor stores, I was only making the point that some of you don't know all the facts about what distributors do, or who they are. As for what state I'm in, it's really none of your business. Sort of like why most of you don't give out your real name. As for what I sell, I sell Alliance products and Wascomat.

P.S. Thanks for the fuzzy math lesson. ;-)

[Howard]

Go to the governments web site where they clearly states "Today all U.S. currency issued since 1861 remains valid and redeemable at full face value" The government does not call in money. They receive shipments from banks and retire old and damaged bills, but there is no wholesale redemption of currency.

This past week I did receive three of the older $20 bills with the small president head on them.


This might help in providing your identification:
209.32.149.201

[Alex5000]

I'm not sure what your point is?