Free Republic

Get rid of the $100 bill. Heck, maybe get rid of the $50 bill, too. So says Lawrence Summers, a former economic adviser to President Obama and ex-Treasury secretary. Summers points to research showing that corruption is aided by paper currency in larger denominations, such as Uncle Sam’s $100 bill and the 500-euro bill ($557 U.S. equivalent). How so? It’s easier for criminals and terrorists to move lots of cash illicitly in large bills. A million dollars in €500 bills weighs just 2.2 pounds, Summers writes in a blog post on the Washington Post website. The same amount of money...

The revamped $100 bill costs 12.5 cents to produce — a 60% increase over the 7.8 cents it cost to print the older version of the bill. The government has printed 3.5 billion of the new $100 bills, which it began delivering to financial institutions Tuesday. How soon customers will see the new bills depends on their distance from a regional Fed office, demand, and a few other factors. Among the reasons it’s more expensive than the older currency: Its new security features, which help prevent counterfeiting. For one, there’s a blue 3-D ribbon running through the center of the...

<p>WASHINGTON – The folks who print America's money have designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill. It's part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters as technology becomes more sophisticated and more dollars flow overseas, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says.</p>