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"Money does not decay over time..." ... except in the form of inflation. Adding yet another centrally-planned mechanism for that (negative interest rates & el

• cesarb 11y ago
  > "Money does not decay over time..." ... except in the form of inflation. We've experienced another form of decay. We had a few old leftover dollar bills from a trip to the USA we made last century. When we wanted to exchange them back into local currency a couple of years ago, all exchange houses would only give back around 70% of their face value, merely because they were old bills (they were in good condition).
  • fche 11y ago
    "all exchange houses" (American banks would give you face value.)
    • cesarb 11y ago
      > American banks would give you face value. It's still a loss of value. When they were new, they could be exchanged everywhere for their face value (minus a few percent for the commission). After a few decades, they can be exchanged for their face value only in certain places. Who knows what will happen after a few more decades? Will they still be accepted anywhere? In my country, if you still have any local currency bills or coins from before 1994, they're worthless except as a collector item. Won't surprise me if the same happens one day to old US dollar bills.