National Dollar Day

Did you know that August 8th identifies as a National Dollar Day? The day commemorates the establishment of the U.S. monetary system by Congress on August 8, 1786. How to observe, it is up to personal preferences: some people spend the dollar, other save the dollar. Recently, Professor Sanchez invited me for an Information Literacy Workshop in Macroeconomics class to talk about 24/7 access to Business databases that available to FNU students throughout the LIRN. The topic of the day was the Law of Demand. The Law of Demand explains consumer choices of spending the dollar when the price changes. In the market, when the price of a good rises, it leads to a fall in the demand of that good. Economists always say that “this is the natural consumer choice behavior.” This happens because a consumer pauses to spend more for the good with the fear of going out of cash.

The dollar may not go as far as it used to, but it is still an important currency. Who does not like to go to the Dollar Tree store where every item costs a dollar! On that note, there are five attention-grabbing facts about the dollar bill in honor of National Dollar Day, which always falls on August 8th:

  1. The eye at the top of the pyramid is said to either be the eye of God, or the Illuminati eye. Some people believe that America’s Founding Fathers were Freemason’s, and the ‘all-seeing eye’ is one of their symbols.
  2. At the bottom of the pyramid are the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI which reads ‘1776,’ the year of American independence.
  3. The eagle on the back of the bill holds 13 arrows and an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives. The shield also respectively has 13 horizontal and vertical stripes. This all stands for the original thirteen colonies.
  4. American currency is not all paper, but 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
  5. Ruined money? As long as you have three-quarters of the bill, it should still be legal tender.

I know how I will spend my dollar today, there is a coffee vendor machine on the 6th floor at the Dr. Jose Regueiro building. Such a treat for a work break!

References

Aggregate Expenditure: DVD. (2005)

Brands, H.W. (2006) The Money Men.

Derks, S. (2004) The Value of a Dollar.

Financial Management for Nurse Managers: Merging the Heart with the Dollar. (2010)

Kash, R. (2010) How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You Are In.

McEachern, W.A. (2017) Macroeconomics.

Schwartz, A. J. (1963) A Monetary History of the United States.

Smith, T. (2005) The Value of a Dollar.

Terwiesch, C. (2006) Matching Supply with Demand.

Ida Tomshinsky, MLS

FNU Library Director

itomshinsky@fnu.edu