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United States dollar

(Redirected from US$) Jump to: navigation, search The United States dollar, or the American dollar, is the official currency, or money, of the United States of America and is also used in a number of other countries outside the US. It is also the standard currency for international markets selling goods such as gold and oil (petrol). When writing, the symbol for the American dollar is the dollar sign ($). Dollars can also be known as USD (U.S. Dollar).

Front of a US dollar bill

The American one dollar bill has a picture of George Washington. There are currently paper bills (currency) of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars.

All U.S. dollar currency has been the same size since 1928, unlike some countries where bank notes, or pieces of paper money, with different values have different sizes.

The U.S. also has dollar coins. Some are silver colored and some are gold colored. Vending machines often give dollar coins as change, since it is easier for the machines to give out coins than paper money. Some of the more advanced vending machines give out paper money as change. Paper dollars are much more common than dollar coins.

The US dollar in subdivided into cents, and 100 cents equals 1 US dollar. One cent can be written as either $0.01 or 1¢. The cent or "penny" (not to be confused with the English penny sterling) is the least worth coin used in the U.S.. There are several different coins with different cent values of different materials and sizes. There is the penny (1¢ or$0.01), nickel (5¢ or $0.05), dime (10¢ or$0.10), quarter (25¢ or $0.25), and the much rarer half-dollar (50¢ or$0.50).[1] All coins and paper bills have the faces of famous Americans on the front side.

The paper "dollar bill" is actually called a "Federal Reserve Note". Federal Reserve notes are legal tender currency notes. The twelve Federal Reserve Banks issue them into circulation pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. A commercial bank belonging to the Federal Reserve System can obtain Federal Reserve notes from the Federal Reserve Bank in its district whenever it wishes by paying for them in full, dollar for dollar, from its account with Federal Reserve Bank.

Federal Reserve Banks obtain the notes from the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). It pays the BEP for the cost of producing the notes, which then become liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, and obligations of the United States Government.

Congress has specified that a Federal Reserve Bank must hold collateral equal in value to the Federal Reserve notes that the Bank receives. This collateral is chiefly gold certificates and United States securities. This provides backing for the note issue. The idea was that if the Congress dissolved the Federal Reserve System, the United States would take over the notes (liabilities). This would meet the requirements of Section 411, but the government would also take over the assets, which would be of equal value. Federal Reserve notes represent a first lien on all the assets of the Federal Reserve Banks, and on the collateral specifically held against them.

Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything. This has been the case since 1933. The notes have no value for themselves, but for what they will buy. In another sense, because they are legal tender, Federal Reserve notes are "backed" by all the goods and services in the economy.

The Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."

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