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The DollarAlso referred to as the Federal Reserve note and abbreviated as USD, the US dollar is the official currency of the US. It’s not only the most circulated currency in the world but also considered one of the most stable.
Near the end of World War II in 1944, dozens of nations gathered in New Hampshire and agreed to peg their currencies to the US dollar due to its relative stability. The dollar began to dominate global trade soon after.
Today, under the Treasury Department, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces all circulating paper money. But how paper money in the US is produced has changed frequently since 1690, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first of the 13 original colonies to issue it.
US banknotes are made up of 75% cotton and 25% linen. By the end of 2024, there were roughly 55 billion banknotes in circulation, totaling about $2.3T.Explore The Dollar
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The worst things to buy at the dollar store, according to a financial expertSome dollar store products can be low quality, and experts advise not purchasing them. This list includes 17 products to avoid at dollar stores, including batteries, toys, costumes, and more. KiplingerThe dollar’s value stems from public trust and demandIn simple terms, a dollar bill’s value relies on two elements: that people believe it will be accepted in exchange for goods and services, and how much demand for the currency there is. TEDNorth Carolina was the first state to ban payday lendingIn 2001, the North Carolina state legislature let a 1997 law that permitted the small-dollar loans expire—effectively banning payday loans. In 2005, the NC bank commissioner ruled that Advance America, a payday lending company, had been operating in the state illegally. The modern large chain dollar store business model originated in the SouthThe first Dollar General store opened in Kentucky, the first Family Dollar in North Carolina, and the first Dollar Tree in Southern Virginia. To this day, dollar stores have more distribution centers in the South than anywhere else in the US. TuftsThe best items to buy at dollar stores, according to a financial expertExperts advise purchasing items like greeting cards, pregnancy tests, candy, gift and party supplies, and other items from the dollar store to maximize savings. KiplingerDollar General vs Dollar Tree vs Family Dollar: What's the difference?A recent article claims that at Dollar Tree, almost all of the items are $1.25, although inventory seems more limited. At Family Dollar and Dollar General, prices tend to be slightly higher, though they often carry name brands. The Penny HoarderIn 1955, the first Dollar General store was opened in KentuckyIt was created by a father and son, Cal Turner Sr. and JL Turner. At the time, no item in the store cost more than one dollar, although that has since changed. Atlas ObscuraSwitzerland's currency is so strong that it could cause deflationEconomic instability in the United States in 2025 strongly benefited Switzerland, where the value of the franc relative to the dollar increased by about 12.7%. In response, the price of imports dramatically decreased, making goods overall much cheaper. CNBCWithin an 18-hour period in 1974, 13 states were hit by 148 tornadoesFrom April 3-4, a tornado outbreak killed over 300 people and caused $600M in damage ($3.8B in 2024 dollars). The event revealed deficiencies in various technologies, including crude radar imaging and slow typewriter-based communication systems, which quickly bottlenecked and became outdated as tornado watches became tornado warnings. HISTORY This WeekOrganized crime, including money laundering, drains $1.96T from the global economy annuallyOverall, financial crime drains $3T from the global economy, with organized crime making up nearly $2T of that total. Drug trafficking is the second-largest drain on the global economy. Visual CapitalistWalmart was the first traditional retailer to crack the $1T clubIn early 2026, the company joined major tech companies Nvidia, Apple, and Meta (among others) as one of the rare firms with a market capitalization beyond $1T. See the latest top companies here. InvestopediaAbraham Lincoln's assassination helped create the multibillion-dollar funeral businessAfter the president was killed in April 1865, he became one of the first well-publicized embalming examples in the US. The burgeoning science enabled his body to go on a multistate tour. Prices soon climbed for the process and fueled more wakes, perhaps helping to lay the foundation for the pricy funeral industry. Weird HistoryRanking the world’s economies: 1980 vs. 2025 The US remains the world’s largest economy, having increased its annual gross domestic product from $2.9T in 1980 to $30.6T in 2025. In 1980, China ranked seventh globally with a GDP of $304B. In 2025, China ranked second with a GDP of $19.4T. Visual CapitalistThe House of Representatives controls the $7T federal budgetThe House holds the exclusive "power of the purse" to initiate revenue bills, a provision in the US Constitution designed to divide power with the Senate and give states with larger populations greater influence over federal budgeting. US House of Representatives ArchivesNike made $126M in the first year of Air Jordan salesThe first pair of Air Jordans hit shelves in 1985 for $65. The company expected to sell $3M worth of shoes in the first three years, but ultimately blew past that goal in the first year of sales. Yahoo FinanceNike only paid $35 for the swoosh—and cofounder Phil Knight didn’t like it at firstA student Nike cofounder Phil Knight met while teaching at Portland State designed the logo for the “Nike” football shoe (the company was still Blue Ribbon Sports at the time). When Phil Knight saw it, he said, “Well, I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” NikeThe portrait of George Washington was first placed on the one-dollar bill in 1869Trace the history of the US dollar from its colonial roots to its adoption as the national currency. The video explores the word's Germanic origins, how the dollar sign evolved from the Spanish peso, and how Washington's portrait came to define US paper currency. Two CentsMadison's portrait was on the now-defunct $5,000 billJames Madison appeared on the $5,000 bill, a high-denomination note used primarily for bank-to-bank transactions that was discontinued in 1969 as electronic payments reduced the need for large paper currency. (The rare note is still legal tender, though it is often worth much more than its face value to collectors.) Treasure TownSome ads help create ‘symbolic value’ for productsA Rolex watch and a watch from the Dollar Store serve the same purpose: helping the wearer tell the time. But a Rolex is worth thousands of dollars while the Dollar Store watch is costs $1 because of symbolic value, or what the watch says about its wearer. This article helps break down the difference between the two. Psychology TodayIn 2024, global ad spend surpassed $1T for the first timeOrganizations like GroupM and WARC began predicting this record high in 2023. Five large tech companies (Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Alibaba, and TikTok parent ByteDance) were predicted to account for more than half of all global ad spend in 2024. Marketing BrewFungal diseases cost the US around $19B annuallyEstimates derived from health insurance claims, death certificates, and hospitalization data suggest that fungus is a significant medical issue. Each year, fungal diseases kill some 7,300 people—roughly the same number of deaths attributed to motor vehicles striking pedestrians. Around 130,000 people are hospitalized with fungal diseases, and the total national cost from fungal diseases is estimated to be about $19B—a figure that roughly matches Jamaica's entire gross domestic product. US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionSan Francisco has the highest-paying average monthly salary in the US at $7,092Other relatively high monthly average salaries in major cities worldwide include those in Switzerland, specifically Geneva at $7,984 and Zurich at $7,788. This chart shows other major cities across the world with high average monthly salaries. Visual CapitalistThe US dollar is the most popular note to counterfeitCounterfeit operations are often controlled by rogue governments, drug cartels, and more. These organized crime rings often sell counterfeit bills wholesale, for anywhere between 40 and 70 cents per dollar. Boston FedThe Australian $5 bill has an image of a bird that glows when exposed to UV lightThat’s just one of the many anti-counterfeiting security measures that the Australian government implements on its currency. Popular banknotes from around the world all include their own unique security features—this infographic outlines a few unique ones. Visual Capitalist'The $64,000 Question' took the quiz show formula to new levelsCreator Louis G. Cowan upped the potential winnings and had his team scour through contestant applications in search of everyday people with exceptional knowledge in a particular area. When the show premiered in 1955, they made the game appear high-tech by using cutting-edge IBM technology to deliver questions. The gambit worked: At one point, 55 million Americans tuned in. PBSFort Knox was built to be a secure facility for the US Treasury's gold reservesThe gold reserves were previously used to back the US dollar under the gold standard. Although the US went off the gold standard in 1971, Fort Knox continues to store a large portion of the nation's gold reserves. YouTubeGoogle’s CEO has warned that today’s AI boom shows ‘elements of irrationality’An interview with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai warns that the trillion-dollar surge in AI valuations may contain clear signs of irrationality, echoing past tech bubbles. He says no firm—including Google—would be immune if the boom cools or bursts. BBCThe US dollar's value weakened significantly in 2025 amid tariffsExperts at US Bank predicted in August 2025, that the downward trend was likely to continue, although they acknowledged that uncertainty remains high. As tariffs moved to the center of the White House’s agenda, all G10 currencies grew stronger against the dollar—the Swiss franc even posted double-digit gains. UBSEach design detail on the US $1 bill has significanceThe eye in the triangle floating above the pyramid, for instance, is “the Eye of Providence watching over and ensuring the endurance of the structure of the American government.” This article details every design choice’s significance on the dollar—and a few conspiracies around these choices as well. Reader's DigestToday, the rapper 50 Cent would be 109 CentWhile the rapper 50 Cent got his name decades ago, adjusted for inflation, 50 Cent would be 109 Cent as of 2025. FlowingDataRoughly 22% of US tax dollars go to Social SecuritySocial security is the US government’s largest expense. You can see other government expenses in a visual breakdown of what one US tax dollar actually pays for. Total spending amounts were converted to cents on the dollar and percentages. Visual CapitalistHow K-pop conquered the worldHow did Korean musical acts go from unpopular and at times maligned to filling arenas and creating one of the most viral music videos of all time? This 25-minute audio documentary from BBC World Service explains how social networks, plastic surgery, and government tax breaks helped turn K-pop into the multibillion-dollar global juggernaut we know today. BBC NewsInternet domain names can be worth millions of dollarsAnd yet, the mysterious man who owns Milk.com likely isn't selling his valuable site any time soon. Planet MoneyCEO Gary Tan explains Y Combinators guiding philosophyHear YC President and CEO Garry Tan talk about why he values earnesty and excellent communication skills in YC founders, his thoughts on AI, and more in this unexpectedly deep and in-depth interview. The Knowledge Project with Shane ParrishThe game 'Counter-Strike' was developed in a dorm roomCollege student Minh Le designed the game through "modding," effectively building on the code of a preexisting game, the game "Half-Life" in his spare time. The New York Times'The Million Dollar Homepage' is a snapshot of a dead internetIn 2005, 21-year-old Alex Tew set out to make $1M by selling $1 pixels on his website, effectively creating a standalone internet billboard. The gambit worked. Interestingly, because the advertisements were one-time payments, the site is still live and looks the same as it did in 2005, despite many of the advertised sites going defunct years ago. Nostalgia NerdThe Juke 8 was the world's first karaoke machineDaisuke Inoue invented the machine in 1971 by combining an amplifier, microphone, and 8-track machine, though he never patented it and, as a result, never collected royalties from the billion-dollar industry. Great Big StoryOnly 34% of Americans supported the Apollo program in 1967After a fire killed three astronauts on the launchpad of Apollo 1, the public became ambivalent about funding the multibillion-dollar program until the successful moon landing in 1969. The landers alone cost $388M, while each spacesuit cost $100,000. BBCThe billion-dollar ghost town in BaltimoreAs a Rust Belt city looking to revitalize its economic core, Baltimore, Maryland, sought big investments from developers and municipalities. The so-called Baltimore Peninsula is a billion-dollar neighborhood in south Baltimore initially prompted by the investment of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank. In 2025, the glossy, grand urban neighborhood is still empty, with fully-built condos and retail spaces. Building TalesMany years ago, the US dollar became the world's primary reserve currencyIn 1944, 44 nations gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to rebuild the global economy. The result? The US dollar became the world’s reserve currency, backed by gold. 1440In 1792, Congress established the first national mint to produce all the coins in the USAt the same time, the US also started producing the dollar, its first official currency. The US Mint has since issued coins throughout the country. Official Site of the United States MintThe US has used a wide variety of different currencies between the 1690s and todayFrom colonial money to national banknotes, people have used all kinds of forms of currency throughout the history of the United States before settling on the dollar bills and quarters that we pay for things with today. U.S. Currency Education ProgramThe US dollar is the official currency of the United States and is the most circulated currency around the worldThe US dollar was established in 1792 and comes in the form of coins or paper money. It's considered one of (if not the most) stable currencies in the world due to America’s strong and robust economy, as well as its relatively stable government. InvestopediaMacy’s doesn’t own its flagship location because of the 'million dollar corner'When Macy’s moved to the Herald Square location, it reached a verbal agreement to acquire that corner of land—but at the last minute, it was sold to a rival store for roughly $1M. The Real DealStates with the most million-dollar homesAs of 2024, the US has 621 cities where a typical home costs $1M or more. California has more million-dollar cities than any other state by a long shot, with 218. New York comes in second with 76. Want to see where other states rank? Check out this map to learn more. Visual CapitalistHow much is your parental mental load worth?As anyone who has driven their kids to soccer practice multiple times a week can tell you, parents and children are chronically over-scheduled. Now, there's a calculator to help parents find the dollar value of what their invisible workload is worth—from meal planning to coordinating after-school care—along with a number of resources to help generate solutions. SkylightThe lifespan of a dollar billDurable, made of a cotton blend, and with billions in circulation, the common dollar bill is made to last. This video from 1440 goes inside the life of the country's paper currency, from printing to purchasing, in this quick 60-second overview. 1440Student debt is a trillion-dollar questionFormer Purdue University president Mitch Daniels and others discuss the student debt crisis. This episode digs into how we got here, whether college is worth borrowing for, how to address the economic drag of student debt, and whether alternative routes to a four-year degree could be part of the solution. FreakonomicsThe trillion-dollar coin is a proposed platinum coin with a face value of $1T, which could be used to reduce the national debtThis conceptual strategy was first proposed in 2011 as a potential alternative to raising the US debt ceiling. Although there were several high-profile proponents of the idea, it was eventually rejected in 2013 by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials. InvestopediaVisualizing the multibillion dollar cost of US weather disastersThe US has sustained 332 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1B (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 332 events exceeds $2.275T. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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