July 2, 2009
Today our conversation started out with Inflation. What is Inflation? It is
-a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy in a certain time limit
-a decline in the real value of money
-a loss of purchasing power

-the U.S. is on the Fiat System instead of the Gold Standard
-on March 3 of this year, the U.S. debt was at 10.9 trillion dollars
-During fiscal year 2008, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced approximately 38 million notes a day with a face value of approximately $629 million.
- Every year the U.S. Treasury handles approximately 30,000 claims and redeems mutilated currency valued at over $30 million.
-we print more money then we take out of circulation
-pennies are pointless
-we should just round everything to 0 or 5.
-and they are more expensive to make then what they are actually worth

We owe other countries 3072.2 billion dollars
- 739.6 billion dollars to China
- 634.8 billion dollars to Japan
-186.3 billion dollars to oil exporters
- 176.6 billion dollars to Caribbean Banking Centers
-and that’s only the top four

And I found fun facts about money.

-the lifespan of a dollar bill is 21 months
-the lifespan of a 5 is 16 months
-the lifespan of a 10 is 18 months
-the lifespan of a 20 is 24 months
-the lifespan of a 50 is 55 months
-the lifespan of a 100 is 89 months

- The estimated weight of a currency note, regardless of denomination is one gram.
- If you had 10 billion $1 notes and spent one every second of every day, it would require 317 years for you to go broke.
-A stack of currency one mile high would contain over 14½ million notes.
-Currency paper is composed of 25% linen and 75% cotton.
- The beginning of an establishment for the engraving and printing of U.S. currency can be traced as far back as August 29, 1862, to a single room in the basement of the Main Treasury Building where two men and four women separated and sealed by hand $1 and $2 U.S. notes which had been printed by private bank note companies. Today there are approximately 2,800 employees who work out of two buildings in Washington, D.C. and a facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
-During Fiscal Year 2008 the BEP delivered 7.7 billion notes at an average cost of 6.4 cents per note.

You can read more fun facts or find out more on how money is made at
http://www.moneyfactory.gov/document.cfm/18/106