The U.S dollar long overdue for a make over?
 

If the U.S were to physically change the dollar note from paper to plastic the counter fit statistics would drop dramatically. My question is how come the U.S has not already done so? It's not like they can't offered it, or are they keeping it for traditionally purposes?.

Just think of all the oil it would take to transform an entire nation's currency from paper to plastic, it would be incredible. While I can't comment on the American money system, I think humans should start cutting down on the amount of plastic we use, not step it up.

Because it's a stupid idea. Plastic banknotes is just daft. It'd be harder to fold them in your wallet, for a start. And we've only got enough oil to last us 40 years, so we should use it wisely.

When I saw this topic's title, I thought it was about simply changing the design on the notes. Now that I agree with. As David Byrne (lead singer of Talking Heads) said, 'US money is the worst-looking money in the world'. Call me jingoistic or xenophobic, but when I went to New York I was surprised by how painfully ugly the banknotes were. And all the notes are the same size... what the hell's up with that?

Harder to fold into your wallet? We have plastic notes here and they are just as easy to put into your wallet as paper notes, so it use's up a little oil, paper use's up wood, atleast with the plastic one's the counter fit statistics would drop. Besides they will most likely find something else to make plastic out of when the time comes. And yeah this topic title is about changing the design of the note. And does'nt New York have the same note as the rest of the U.S?

It takes a few years to grow a tree. It takes a few thousand years to grow a forest and wait for it to fossilize.

And I'm pretty sure that plastic without oil wouldn't be called plastic. Although a sustainable artificial material would certainly be a good thing.

EDIT: Grr, I can't my negatives right today. Compensating...

That and plastic takes decades for the enviorment just to... uh, forgot the word... dematerialize(?) it. Unless we used recycled plastics that might work.

I think you're looking for the term biodegrade. Yes, it takes yonks for plastic to become part of Earth again. Primarily because it's been a few millenniums since it was bio...

1) It would use up a hell of a lot of oil if a country as big as the US converted all its banknotes to plastic.

2) As Max said, wood is a renewable source. But so-called 'paper' notes ren't actually made of true wood paper; they're actually made from cotton.

3) How so? Isn't watermarking the paper notes an effective deterrent? It is here.

4) Yes, it does. I never said it didn't.

The first step in changing the US note should definitely be the sizes. Here, the larger the note's value, the larger the physical size of the note (£50 notes are big enough for a mouse's duvet). I didn't like the fact that I couldn't tell at a glance the difference between a $1 note and a $50 one when I went to America; I had to get the note out of my wallet and read it to find out what it was.

Nah
 

Reasons I think it should not change:

1. Plastic? Nooooo. No no. It will be hard to fold into your pocket.
2. Paper is Easy to count.
3. Oil is non-reuseable. We don't have that much oil left anyways.

Re: Nah
 

Actually you have no oil left, all your oil comes from arab countries and by the looks of it they are going to go to war.



Hmmm... I should of mentioned changing the color and the size of the note, are you for that? Because you are right, all the notes in the U.S do look alike you actually have to read the number to tell what it's worth.

Re: Re: Nah
 

Noooo, we have oil in the United States! Texas and Okaholma! I visit those states like once every other two years and I see oil pumps all the time there. We do have little oil, but, majority of our oil comes from Arab nations. I don't know what we are going to do now though. The problem that the United States cannot produce enough oil to satisfy our needs. In fact, today, only about half the oil consumed in the United States is actually produced in the United States. The rest is pumped from oil fields in other countries and sold to the United States. We spend billions of dollars a year to buy oil from other countries.


Anyways, oil is oil. It's non-reuseable anywhere you go.

Statikk had some crazy rant about oil a while back, if I remember. I have nothing against the U.S. dollars really, I like the paper. I mean, its not umcommon for me to leave a dollar bill (or 10 dollar bills) in my pocket when my clothes are washed. I don't think plastic would stand up the the almighty washing machine as well as paper. Besides, credit cards are a good enough excuse for plastic money;)

I don't care. I rarely have enough money to spend, so I don't see it enough to care whether it is asthetically pleasing or not. The plastic idea is stupid though.

I would be all for different colors. or sizes.

I would rather abandon the monetary system and go back to the good ole' bartering days.

Nah, plastic is good. But it's all money to me anyway, so I don't take much notice. Fake Australian money isn't hard to spot if you know the trick. If you hold up Australian money to the light you'll see a verticle line down the center. It is meant to make copying the money impossible. So far it has worked. Why don't Americans just scrap notes and work with the plastic cards? It basically is that way now. Isn't it?

Well, it's pretty daft going through all the hassle of paying by credit card if you're just spending, say, five dollars.