Should $500 and $1000 bills be returned to active production?

[NYDem]

In 1969 the US Government officially discontinued the large denominations of US paper currency (500, 1000, 5000, and 10000 dollar bills) after more than a decade of not printing them. Large bills were mostly used for governmental or bank transactions which are now handled electronically. However, inflation means that a hypothetical $1000 bill today would have around as much purchasing power as a $100 bill had in the 1950s.

With that said, would you approve or disapprove of resuming the printing of $500 or $1000 dollar bills? If your answer is yes, then who should appear on them?

[Santander]

The $100 is already a relatively high value banknote. Considering it is pretty rare to buy things for >$100 with cash, there is no need to facilitate organized crime by re-introducing a $500 note.

Of course, by the time Brandon is through with the economy, we may need to reconsider...

[GeorgiaModerate]

People still use cash?

[Mr. Reactionary]

People still use cash?

To buy weed and guns, yes.

[PSOL]

I feel reintroducing them would lead to a rash in thefts

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

People still use cash?

To buy weed and guns, yes.

An ounce of Mary Jane, $350.
An AK-47, $419.
Your ex-girlfriend's liver, $557,000.
Getting away with murder, priceless.

There are some things in life that money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.

[progressive85]

Of course, with a few of them promptly handed over to me.

[brucejoel99]

That'd be a massive undertaking for something that'd presumably benefit a fraction of society at best. At least, I can't think of anybody in my life that'd ever be using a $500 bill, & I certainly can't envision average practical use of a $1K bill either.

[Mr. Matt]

People still use cash?

To buy weed and guns, yes.

And to save 3% at the local gas station or pizza place.

[Dr. MB]

Yes and get rid of the reporting limit for cash transactions/withdrawals.

[Dr. MB]

People still use cash?

It’s untraceable. Anyone concerned about privacy should use cash as much as possible.

[Santander]

People still use cash?

It’s untraceable. Anyone concerned about privacy should use cash as much as possible.

Ron Paul told me to use gold and crypto.

[parochial boy]

My Mum always tells the story of buying our first car back in the 90s and having to go and withdraw 20 one thousand franc notes and carry them half way across town because you had to pay in cash. Which was the most terrifying experience of her life.

Or more to the point, we had this debate about getting rid of the bill not too long ago.

Basically went something like:

Random politician: "we should get rid of this huge domination bill that is mostly being used for money laundering purposes"

Swiss National Bank: "Look, don't be ridiculous, not all of them are being used for money laundering. Some of them are being scammed off of the little old ladies who keep them hidden under their mattresses"

So we still have this ridiculous note, one of which I have not seen in over a decade but which is apparently an integral part of Swiss culture and definitely in regular use by people who aren't organised criminals. Stop with that ridiculous assertion.

[Alcibiades]

In the UK, the £20 note is the highest value denomination in common usage. We do have a £50 note, but it is extremely rarely used and is generally associated with dodgy activities; hence many, if not most, shops don’t accept it. Why these values are so low, I don’t really know and is one of those things you don’t normally really think about, but when you step back is actually pretty bemusing.

[TheFonz]

Yeah, and they should stop producing the penny and nickel too.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

No High-value bills primarly serve money laundering.

[Joe Republic]

I'd be ok with minting a single trillion dollar bill, and then sending a small team of trustworthy, competent envoys to buy Cuba with it.  We can trust that the sale will go smoothly.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I feel reintroducing them would lead to a rash in thefts.

The EU abolished the €500 banknote some years ago in order to fight the uttering of counterfeit money and black money, and to prevent money laundering. We still use the €100 and €200 banknotes, though.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Good Lord no.

[Utah Neolib]

Yes but only for illegal purposes

[Adam Griffin]

Maybe not such denominations, but given a $200 bill would buy what a $100 bill would buy in the mid-1990s, it's worth considering adding a higher denomination at this point.

[Leo]

Some 56% of Americans are unable to cover an unexpected $1,000 bill with savings, according to a telephone survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted in early January by Bankrate.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/56percent-of-americans-cant-cover-a-1000-emergency-expense-with-savings.html

$500 and $1,000 bank notes are a hard core kleptocracy move.

I don't see legitimate hard working tax paying people asking for this.  Who would want to walk around with the entirety of their savings in one or two bills in their pocket?

Not to mention civil forfeiture.

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Yes, just to collect them

[Tintrlvr]

No. The only purpose large bills serve is money-laundering. I'd be more supportive of taking the $100 bill out of circulation.

[Agonized-Statism]

The public might look at it as the government surrendering to a hopeless inflationary death spiral.