No. 112 - Superdollar

A Facebook friend posted a link to "an animated tutorial of the advanced security and design features in the redesigned $100 note." The heading on the page read: The New $100 Note. Know Its Features. Know It's Real.

I replied to him: "It's interesting how the government spends time and money trying to stop citizens from counterfeiting when they are the world's greatest counterfeiters, printing as much paper money as they wish which is backed by nothing."

The French writer and philosopher, Voltaire, once wrote: "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value -- zero." 

Congressman Ron Paul has a bumper sticker on his desk that says, “Don’t steal, the government hates competition”. 

Once upon a time, the dollar used to be tied to gold, a tangible physical element. You could not print more money unless you had gold to back it. That all changed in 1971 when the U.S. abolished the gold standard. We commonly accept that inflation of 2-3% each year is normal. Yet most people fail to understand that inflating the money supply just means that each existing dollar is worth less.

I learned today about the superdollar, or supernote, which is a very high quality counterfeit U.S. one hundred-dollar bill, alleged by the U.S. government to have been created by an unknown organization or government. The name derives from the fact that the technology incorporated to create the note exceeds that of the original.

I think the superdollar is quite amusing. The government does not like competition when it comes to counterfeiting. Not one little bit.