THE DOLLAR$$$$$

 

 

I was cleaning out the pants pocket after a week of transacting business with local merchants. As I was taking out the wadded singles from my pocket, I began to notice some were from out of state. Being in suburban Chicago, I am used to federal reserve notes from Chicago, the sealed G.

But there was an unfamiliar L bill from San Francisco. I did not recall seeing one of those before . . . then another. That was odd. Then I started to pile out the bills on the table according to the place of origin.

B is for New York, check.

C is for Philly, check.

D is for Cleveland, check.

E is for Richmond, new one on me.

F is for Atlanta, check.

H is for St. Louis, check.

I is for Minneapolis, another rare one.

J is for Kansas City, another new one.

K is for Dallas, check.

L is for San Francisco, which started this deal.

In the 21 dollar bills that were in my pocket, I had ten of the twelve federal reserve banks noted, and surprisingly, none were from my local reserve bank in Chicago!

So I was missing Chicago and Boston, the A letter.

I found it quite strange to have so many different bills circulating around suburban Chicago during a single week. What does it mean. Why were actual dollar bills from across the country migrating to the painful state of Illinois, with its 9.9 percent unemployment rate, businesses closing up and leaving the increasing taxes, and high foreclosures?

It does show one thing that many people do not realize: in private hands, a dollar circulates more times (creating income to each recipient) than one sitting in a bank vault or part of a government program.