outta curiousity... what's with the red notes? Why did they print red in 43 only? And does the red star notes hold any more value to them?
This might answer your question: United States Notes (characterized by a red seal and serial number) were the first national currency, authorized by the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and began circulating during the Civil War. The Treasury Department issued these notes directly into circulation, and they are obligations of the United States Government. The issuance of United States Notes is subject to limitations established by Congress. It established a statutory limitation of $300 million on the amount of United States Notes authorized to be outstanding and in circulation. While this was a significant figure in Civil War days, it is now a very small fraction of the total currency in circulation in the United States. Both United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes are parts of our national currency and both are legal tender. They circulate as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them comes from different statutes. United States Notes were redeemable in gold until 1933, when the United States abandoned the gold standard. Since then, both currencies have served essentially the same purpose, and have had the same value. Because United States Notes serve no function that is not already adequately served by Federal Reserve Notes, their issuance was discontinued, and none have been placed in to circulation since January 21, 1971. Source: http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
Is the statute authorizing US Notes still on the books? In other words, could the Treasury start issuing them again without Congressional action? I could think of a number of ways that would allow the government to "fiddle" with the economy without having an unpleasant political debate.
