Hi-Tech New $5 Bill Will Be Part Purple
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Honest Abe will become Colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray livening up the $5 bill. The new bill with high-tech security features and new colors made a digital debut Thursday, the first time the US government has exclusively used the Internet to unveil its paper money.
“It’s new. It’s more advanced. It’s more secure,” a voice announces over music as an image of the bill bearing the likeness of president Abraham Lincoln tumbles and swirls into view.
Officials from the US Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the US Secret Service were part of the preview, dubbed “Wi-5,” an entirely digital event which emphasized the government’s commitment to staying ahead of counterfeiters.
The live “unveiling” of the five-dollar bill design, which featured government officials discussing currency security efforts, took place on http://www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney.
The new fiver, in traditional green with splashes of purple, is schedule to enter circulation in early 2008, with a new 100-dollar bill to follow.
The new bill joins recently redesigned 10-dollar, 20-dollar and 50-dollar bills issued with security features aimed at thwarting counterfeiting and money laundering.
“The government uses the best tools available so that it will be unlikely that you will receive a counterfeit bill,” said Treasurer of the United States Anna Escobedo Cabral.
“Improved security features are at the heart of this currency series — security features that are easy for everyone to use. Learn how to use them, so you don’t lose your hard-earned money in the unlikely event that someone tries to pass a counterfeit bill to you.”
The new five-dollar bill features an additional watermark and a repositioned embedded security thread that glows blue when held under ultraviolet light.
In the United States alone last year, there were 3,945 arrests related to counterfeit bills passed to individuals and businesses, equaling a total loss of 62 million dollars, according to data from the US Secret Service.
Worldwide in 2006, the US Secret Service and international authorities seized just over 53 million dollars in counterfeit bills before they entered circulation. Nearly 65 million dollars that had been passed into circulation was detected and removed worldwide.
Without boring you with the details I have my sister manage my money. Because of life style and the jobs I had, especially driving the taxi, I spent money everyday because I knew I could go get some more money tomorrow. Making money for 44 years, and have the SS reports to prove it, I never learned how to handle money. I have two savings accounts and a checking account attached to each one. My sister puts $40 in one and $20 in the other. They are not VISA cards, just basic ATM cards. I can use them at the WaWa, Rite Aid, SEPTA and AMTRAK. And of course the ATM machines at those banks. I’ve really slowed down over the past couple of years and I don’t go out everyday. I rarely go out with cash. The worst I do is go into a bar with just enough for four pints and a tip. I can’t overdraw the cards which is its special way of saying, “hit the bricks, it’s time to go home”. Cashless society works for me If it wasn’t for my sister my VA check would be gone the third of each month and then I’d be sitting down by the mailbox waiting for the next. This way I even have money left over each month. Nobody’s perfect.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:43 pmForgot to mention. Her husband was a
September 20th, 2007 at 5:49 pmVietnam veteran that drank himself to death and he died at the age of 38 with a rock for a liver. So, she’s wise to my shit.
I agree with Cunningham to a certain degree. Cashless does simplify things. I myself don’t carry cash often at all.
But to completely get rid of cold hard cash would be a monumental failure on the economies part, both biblically as well as sociologically.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:59 am