I have been told by bank tellers that there ACTUALY IS such a thing as a $500 dollar bill, athough they were unable to provide me with one.
Has anyone here ever seen one?...
Originally Posted by Garland_Bone
I have seen all the large denomination bills, but only on display behind security glass! (They're coveted collectors' items.)
The 500 dollar bill was first printed in the year 1928.
Originally Posted by Copierguy0
An interesting little factoid is that $500 in 1928 had purchasing power equivalent to $6,379 today. I didn't just pull that number out of a hat; that's according to BLS (U.S. government) tables. That just shows the extent to which the Federal Reserve has debased our fiat currency over the last century.
Here's an interesting experiment to try on someone: Put 3 quarters, 2 dimes, a nickel, and 4 pennies on a table. (That makes it very easy to pick any value between one and ninety-nine cents.) Then ask him to pick up and place aside the amount of change you would have needed in 1970 to equal the purchasing power of one dollar today.
I tried this recently on my 26-year-old nephew, a college graduate with a job in the accounting department of a big company. He initially picked up two quarters and a dime, but then said, "Well, I remember learning in an economics class that there has been a lot of inflation, especially in the 1970s." So then he put down one of the quarters and picked up a nickel, leaving $0.40. That was his final guess.
The answer?
One dime, one nickel, and 3 pennies!
That's right. Eighteen cents just 40 years ago had the same purchasing power as a buck today. Pretty amazing, huh?