I would change:

-TR on the $10 over Hamilton.
-There's a bill proposed to put Reagan on the $50... while he's by far my least favorite of what I like to think of as The Seven Great Presidents (in no order, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR, FDR, Kennedy, and Reagan... all did great things for this country as president, and all are generally considered among the greatest; Kennedy and Reagan cause the biggest split, chances are if you like one you dislike the other, and it's true I'll take Kennedy and his style 1,000 over Reagan's but both did great things and are heroes of their party and the nation, so both are there to please the Left and Right) but he deserves that WAY MORE than Grant.

-I saw this as a joke somewhere... and I like it as a joke:

Obama on the Trillion, anyone? (Just pull one out each time you need to bail yourself out! I like the guy and his presidency overall- but you have to laugh at these... that WOULD be funny if they just made a Trillion with his picture on it...)

;)

And we do have dollar coins, but they've never been popular...

Either you have a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, and it's a bit like a quarter and sort of awkard, a Sacajewea gold dollar coin, and it's just not very popular, really (at least I've never seen anyone really take to it) and now that Presidents series, where all the presidents are slowly getting a dollar coin minted in their image, and that's just a tad ridiculous- 44 versions of the dollar coin?

I find it interesting how most other nations in the world honor scientists, writers, and other thinkers on their currency whereas the United States places images of politicians on theirs. Honestly. Politicians? Most European currencies honored mostly non-politicians as well before the advent of the euro. Britain honors figures such as Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin as well as the Queen of course.

I think it would be great to some non-politicians on American currency if we need to have someone's face on it at all. I wouldn't want my face on banknotes but... I also don't know about having "In God We Trust" on American currency (or as the American national motto). Teddy Roosevelt didn't want it either because he thought it was too tawdry to put the name of God on something as banal as currency.

Personally I would love to be done with dollar bills and only have dollar coins like in Canada and the U.K. and wherever else.

The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was too close to a quarter. I wish they would just push the gold dollar coin. Looks good, has a good weight and size, just go with it.

As for 44 versions, they did 50 versions of the quarter, one for each state. And have now moved on to national parks or something like that. Granted that's the back of the coin and not the front, but still. Frankly I don't like it having all these different versions of the coins. I liked the quarter the way it was and they should just stick with one dollar coin and stop printing dollar bills.

£5 notes stopped being available from cash-points quite a few years ago here, so I wonder how many years we've got left before they also become coins.

I disagree, though. I like the dollar bill. On my trip to england, I was annoyed beyond all belief at the fact that there was no one-pound note. I hate carrying coins, they jingle too much. Mostly because of a bad experience (I was mugged, because people heard the change jingling in my pockets, lame muggers, I know), but I know that there are others who prefer notes, as well.

"The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was too close to a quarter. I wish they would just push the gold dollar coin. Looks good, has a good weight and size, just go with it."

You realize the Susie B and the gold dollar coin have the same size and weight, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_United_States_dollar#Coins_in_circulation

"they did 50 versions of the quarter"

Actually, i think they did 55. Puerto Rico, DC, American Samoa, Guam and US Virgin Islands got their own quarter as well.

Dollar coins... whatever. I don't use a lot of cash anyhow.

Penny - keep Lincoln
Nickel - Keep Jefferson
Dime - Keep FDR
Quarter - Keep Washington
Half-dollar - Replace Kennedy with TR
One-dollar coin - I don't care... you can put Kennedy on there if you want.
$1 - Keep Washington
$2 - doesn't matter. John Adams would be a good pick I think
$5 - keep Lincoln
$10 keep Hamilton. He is responsible for what the American economy is today more than anyone. If he doesn't deserve to be on our dollars, no one does.
$20 - fuck Jackson. For real. He was a giant ass-hat. Put Woodrow Wilson on there, or maybe even Monroe/Madison. Not Jackson.
$50 - you can keep Grant I guess.
$100 - if you try to touch Ben I'll kill you. That man was a national treasure

Get rid of the presidents. We've only had them on our currency since the 20's. We should make like Europe and put great people on our money. Also, get rid of the dollar bill. They suck for vending machines.

So we've got the 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, and 2. They'll either never change the dollar bill, or it'll be a coin. So that's 6 bills, pick 6 great Americans:

Harriet Tubman
Albert Einstein
Thomas Edison
Mark Twain
Tecumseh
Fred Rogers

ba-da-bing.

Albert Einstein - American?
Yes he switched nationality during the war, but that was after his most famous discoveries.

He's still a great man, and a great American. WAS. Was a great man.

But there are more than 6 great Americans who weren't politicians. Make a long list, and choose from that.

Personally, I agree with dispensing with people on bills at all. Most euro bills don't have people on them either. Put some American Bald Eagles on there, put Mt. Rushmore on something, and definitely please get rid of Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill. I think Benjamin Franklin is currently the most deserving person on a bill.

Franklin deserves to be on a bill as he was more than just a politician. Washington too as he was a great general first and foremost. After that, Edison, Twain, Henry Ford (the car guy, not Gerald the President) and maybe The Wright Brothers (find a way to put 'em both).

Dollar coins suck, because where are you supposed to keep them? In my fanny pack? :P
Dollar bills are more convenient and probably cheaper to make.
They should also find a solution for the penny, since it is worth less then it costs to make it...

I don't see any major changes in the near future since our society is mocing more to electronic currency.

Thucy:

-NO WAY Jackson ever leaves the 20... jackass or not, he's just too associated with that bill... and I don't think he was a bad President for AMERICANS at all, a good president for US... he just slaughtered innocent Indians and was a jackass to everone else in doing so...

-Kennedy stays on our currency, he's one of the "Great Seven" (The Rushmores, FDR, and then the Left loves Kennedy and the Right Reagan, and they both did great things domestically and internationally with big-time international speeches, Kennedy with "Ich bien ein Berlinner!" and Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev- TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" Both also screwed up mightily, Kennedy with the Bay of Pigs and Reagan with the Iran Contra Scandal... but all Presidents have their blips, and they were both great, so they round out the Seven, and generally if you like one you hate the other, I LOVE Kennedy, I think the 1960s might have been FAR better for the US with Kennedy and his brother and at least without LBJ and Nixon and Barry Goldwater and the rest, reagan I like least but can respect- so yeah, the Seven Great Presidents) and he's pretty associated with the 50-cent piece... but Reagan deserves a mint, too, so...

-Take Grant OFF the $50 dollar bill and put Reagan on it! THAT should be a no-brainer, even to a Democrat like me who, as previously stated, far favors Kennedy, and likes Obama, the man and his ideas, for all of the roadbumps he HAS hit so far in being a so-so first-term President, but I thinbk he's really going now... but anyway, this is about Reagan, and the fact he was a "Great Seven" President (that's just my term... although I think most folks WOULD agree to their being the Top 7, or at the very least agree to 5 or 6 of them being there) means he should get that spot over Grant, who was a good soldier's general in the War but had an undercut and just ineffective presidency

@rudekker:

You'd take WASHINGTON and LINCOLN and their like off? And taking your 6 replacements... eh...

If I were to name 6 "Great Americans" for a set like the "State Quarters" or so, it'd be:

-Tubman (agree with you there)
-Martin Luther King (WHAT??? TWO black people, instead of just a token one...!) ;)
-Twain (agree with you there,our best writer... Poe's close, but for money... no way)
-Babe Ruth (the greatest hero of our great national game... Jackie might go here, too...)
-Eleanor Roosevelt (one of our great world ambassadors and the greatest First Lady)
-General Patton (one of our greatest military heroes, and just an amazing American)

@Draugnar:

It'll be a cold day in HELL before I use any money with Henry Ford, the Anti-Semitic bastard, on it... there's a joke somewhere there, a Jew not wanting money because it has an Anti-Semite on it... but the thing is, even if I weren't a Jew I'd say it'd be a bad move, because frankly, you put representatives of your nation on your money, what you value... do you REALLY want to put a guy, however innovative, on there when he clearly stood for something America stands explicitly against, racism and prejudice? That IS in America, oh, yes, to be sure- but we are, as a nation, against that, and very occasionally, it seems, we're able to remember that... though sometimes it takes a War or a whole Movement to let us realize we're trodding on a whole group's rights *cough cough gaysandlesbians* *cough justletthembeiftheyloveeachother cough*

Sorry- should get that cough looked at, eh? ;)

I have to say having experienced English and Australian money; Australian notes are the bees knees as far as I'm concerned:
- They make English notes feel like tissue paper; just waiting to fall apart. Australian notes have some sort of tough plastic beneath the surface; it still feels like paper, but it wont rip, you can put it in the washing machine, vending machines have no trouble with them,etc
- They're different colors and slightly different sizes, not all light green, so you can easily see what denomination a note is. You can say "monopoly money", but of course when you live here if they really did use monopoly money it wouldnt look like monopoly money for long, it feels legit

But I have to say we dont have any real historical figures to put on our notes like Darwin :-(

CROCODILE DUNDEE!

lol sorry. i dont want to be an ass.

anyway uh. different sizes would suck but the rest of that sounds cool

""The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was too close to a quarter. I wish they would just push the gold dollar coin. Looks good, has a good weight and size, just go with it."

You realize the Susie B and the gold dollar coin have the same size and weight, right?"

Yes, but I stand by what I said. Susie B too much like a quarter. The gold is what differentiates the gold dollar from the quarter. And I like the size and weight compared to the old silver dollars I used to collect as a kid. Those were just too big.

@obiwanobiwan - I didn't know that about Henry Ford. I only knew the businessman in so far as my history knowledge and Ford... Then that leaves room for Wilbur and Orville to each have their own note. Maybe the 5 and the 10.

Coinage... I like the 1 and 2 Euro coins. Two toned with the gold and silver tones (inner and outer) reversed between them and slightly different sizes.

"Get rid of the presidents. We've only had them on our currency since the 20's. We should make like Europe and put great people on our money. "

"I find it interesting how most other nations in the world honor scientists, writers, and other thinkers on their currency whereas the United States places images of politicians on theirs. Honestly. Politicians?"

I think you are missing the point of some of the people on the money. Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin... These weren't politicians. These were the founders of a nation. Its easy for Europe to discount the idea of putting John Major or Francois Mitterand on a bill. In the grand scheme of things, these countries have a much longer history, so John Major has a much less historical impact on the country than a Jefferson or Washington.

(Granted, Lincoln, Kennedy were not founders of a nation.)

The problem I have with putting our founders everywhere is that it makes it hard for us to think critically about their actions. It's very easy to say that "Washington would have voted x on bill y" or "Jefferson was all about z." When these people weren't perfect and made mistakes that we still haven't gotten rid of. As great as Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and the rest were, we should get them off of their pedestals.

And if we're going to put athletes on our money, not Babe Ruth. Let's find someone who was a decent person. Jackie Robinson and Vince Lombardi seem like good candidates!

I would argue that Lincoln was the founder of our nation's second period of history. He fought to reforge our nation and make it whole again. And Kennedy's Civil Right's Bill helped to start the third chapter of our national heritage (although that still has a ways to go). In about 50 years, someone will step up to the plate and hopefully finally bring full unification of all races, genders, and sexual orientation across our nation in what will be the fourth iteration of our nation. It happens about once every hundred years and always in the 60s and/or 70s.

The Euro notes were specifically designed with famous bridges on them, the idea being that bridges are something which brings people together...

The Euro coins have a national symbol on them and there are different ones for each Euro country. (so all Irish euros have a standard Irish Harp which had been on the back of all our coins before the Euro) As i look in my wallet right now all the coins i have are Irish... but on my desk is have two coins with a stylised eagle and a depiction of mozart i think Austrian and German coins respectively...

Interestingly the Irish pound never had any people depicted on it. Mostly native animals and some mythological characters...