5 ms·
One dollar in 1943 is worth about $19 today's dollars. He started in 1938 and was arrested in 1948: 1938 23.42 1943 19.09 1948 13.70 Enough to bu
by kristianp 6mo ago
One dollar in 1943 is worth about $19 today's dollars.
He started in 1938 and was arrested in 1948:
1938 23.42
1943 19.09
1948 13.70
Enough to buy some supplies, but how did he pay the rent? Perhaps he owned his apartment.
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1948?amount=1 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1948?amount=1
- kennywinker 6mo ago> Juettner began working as a maintenance man and building superintendent in New York's Upper East Side. His job allowed him and his family to live rent free in the basement of the building where he worked.
- kristianp 6mo agoYes, but he was forced to counterfeit when that job ended.
- probably_wrong 6mo agoI think it's a fairly reasonable assumption that he retired (he was 60 in the 1930s) but the article could have made that part explicit. On my first read I thought he had become a junk collector out of depression for the death of his wife.
- noduerme 6mo agoWould owning his apartment disqualify him from being a folk hero? If he was a renter, does he deserve to be a hero? Just wondering. If he'd gotten rich from printing fake currency and become a right wing dictator would you think the same as if he was just a broke tenant? Why or why not?
- miksuko 6mo agoThe hell are you talking about?
- noduerme 6mo agoI'm talking about the vague implications the parent poster was making - the purposes of which weren't very clear, but which I interpreted as: "A) Money is worth less than it was, (so printing fake money is justified) B) But on the other hand maybe he was part of the propertied class (in which case it wouldn't be)". I was asking whether they had a moral compass.
- slazaro 6mo agoI think you're reading way too much into that comment. Sometimes questions are just questions out of curiosity, not accusations of the opposite.
- noduerme 6mo agoI'm surprised people have such a knee-jerk reaction to my question.
- shermantanktop 6mo agoMaybe because it sounds like a question on a 10th grade exam. It’s demanding and didactic, both in framing the question and the form of the expected answer.
- noduerme 6mo agoYes, it's asking for an essay. Oh well.
- dnnddidiej 6mo agoIf $1 is $19 I am suprised more people didnt check that their $1 notes are legit back then. Story makes it sound like $1 was chump change.
- HarHarVeryFunny 6mo agoDo you check the $20 bills the ATM spits out, or just stuff them in your wallet and spend them?
- DoctorOetker 6mo agopeople compare them to the $20 bill it spat out last time
- HarHarVeryFunny 6mo agoDo they? I certainly don't - it's just a wad of notes. I'd probably notice if the one on top didn't have a "20" on it, and that's about it. When I spend it I'm also just looking to see if it has a "20" on it.
- Ylpertnodi 6mo agoI hate speding dollars. All the bill sizes being g the same, and the colors similar. Too easy to make mistakes. I feel for the blind...how do they cope?
- HarHarVeryFunny 6mo agoI really don't know. Even as a seeing person you need to have your wits about you, and I think most people sort notes by value in their wallet. Most other countries have notes whose size and color differs by value, so it's much harder to make mistakes.
- Wingman4l7 5mo agoIn the US, IIRC they have a trusted person sort the bills by denomination for them -- like a friend or a bank teller -- and then they fold them into different orientations so they know what they've handed to a checkout clerk. No way for them to prevent being shortchanged, unfortunately.
- rz2k 6mo agoSince they were silver certificates he could have redeemed them for a 26.73g coin composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. In 2026, the value of the silver has fluctuated between about $46 and $94 (and the value of the copper content has stayed a little over 3 cents).
- spwa4 6mo agoIf you swap them in stores, maybe. But taking counterfeit bills to the national bank is just stupid, even if very well made.
- kleton 6mo agoAny quarters and dimes he would have received in change would have been about 90 per cent silver.
- sokoloff 6mo agoThose stopped being redeemable for silver in 1968, so their value is no longer defined by the metal prices of 2026.
- shrubble 6mo agoA shabby NYC apartment in the 1940s could be rented for $30/month. So producing just 1 bill a day would be enough to meet the rent.