MAY 4 WHY ARE AMERICAN DOLLAR BILLS SO PLAIN?

MAY 4  WHY ARE AMERICAN DOLLAR BILLS SO PLAIN?

This week, the International Bank Note Society announced the winner of the coveted 'Bank Note of the Year Award.' Here's the final tally. In fifth place: The Solomon Islands $40 wowed judges with dynamic color schemes. Russia's elegant 100 Ruble and Norway's geometric 500 Kroner came in fourth and third place. Last year's champ, Switzerland, was expected to repeat, but ended up in a distant second place. Everyone fell in love with Canada's daring and explosive $10 bill.

Never heard of the IBNS? It's a relatively new organization that celebrates the collection of paper currency. Since 2004, they've crowned 16 champions for their artistic merit. Kazakhstan, Switzerland and Canada are the only multiple winners. One nation has never been nominated for having artistically pleasing currency: The USA. Everyone in the world agrees: Greenbacks are dirty, dull, overly similar and completely uninspiring. Most Americans don't travel overseas and therefore don't know that money doesn't have to look like this.

Let's check out the chat-room at AskEurope and see what Europeans have to say about American bills. "Their coins are different colors and sizes. Why are the bills all the same?" GaryJM continues: "You open your wallet and you just see a stack of green. You must search to find the desired one." Also confusing to European travelers is the fact the US bills are all the same size. "Why is a useless $1 the same size as a powerful $100 bill?" Good question, MagsClouds. Every other nation makes smaller value bills smaller in size. Yet Greenbacks are frustratingly all the same size.

Sure, we understand why the Feds don't change our money. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The dollar has been earth's most important currency for nearly a century. Suddenly changing it would create havoc and insecurity. Why? Because people worldwide chose to hold US dollars over saving their own currencies in banks. Like gold, US $100 bills are valued everywhere and at any time. No one is saving Ugandan Shillings in shoe boxes, so changing their design is no big deal. However, if the US Mint suddenly produced pink money, folks would freak out.

We don't want this, but certainly some minor changes to our currency are long overdue. The current design was unveiled in 1929 and has only changed slightly since then. In 1999, the Mint enlarged the portraits of Hamilton and Jackson and people loved it. A new $20 Harriet Tubman bill will be released next year. Hopefully, Americans will embrace it and...more importantly...accept improvement to our sacred bills. Canada's award winning design is vertical. Weird, but effective. In California, IDs for citizens under 21 years old are vertical; for people over 21 they are horizontal. This simple change has made it much easier to identify underage drinkers. Let's face it: Every American would benefit from having our bills easier to use and more pleasing to look at!