The Dix Dam is a dam on the Dix River located between Mercer and Garrard County, Kentucky . It was constructed to generate hydroelectricity and prevent flooding of the Kentucky River but is better known for creating Herrington Lake .
94-591: Dix Dam was built to create a reservoir for operating a hydroelectric generating station. The dam also helped mitigate flooding on the Kentucky River by holding water in Herrington Lake during critical periods. Construction began in the fall of 1923, impoundment of water began on March 17, 1925, and the project was completed and power generation began in October 1927. The project cost more than US $ 7 million. Dix Dam
188-482: A dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve Notes , disregarding these special cases: In the 16th century, Count Hieronymus Schlick of Bohemia began minting coins known as joachimstalers , named for Joachimstal , the valley in which the silver was mined. In turn, the valley's name is titled after Saint Joachim , whereby thal or tal , a cognate of the English word dale , is German for 'valley.' The joachimstaler
282-735: A dollar, and dimes at 0.100 of a dollar. After the adoption of the United States Constitution , the U.S. dollar was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 . It specified a "dollar" based on the Spanish milled dollar to contain 371 + 4 ⁄ 16 grains of fine silver, or 416.0 grains (26.96 g) of "standard silver" of fineness 371.25/416 = 89.24%; as well as an "eagle" to contain 247 + 4 ⁄ 8 grains of fine gold, or 270.0 grains (17.50 g) of 22 karat or 91.67% fine gold. Alexander Hamilton arrived at these numbers based on
376-622: A few cases, U.S. coins) used in circulation. The monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System , which acts as the nation's central bank . As of February 10, 2021, currency in circulation amounted to US$ 2.10 trillion , $ 2.05 trillion of which is in Federal Reserve Notes (the remaining $ 50 billion is in the form of coins and older-style United States Notes ). As of September 20, 2023,
470-456: A fixed rate for gold. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the system suffered setbacks ostensibly due to problems pointed out by the Triffin dilemma —the conflict of economic interests that arises between short-term domestic objectives and long-term international objectives when a national currency also serves as a world reserve currency. Additionally, in 1971 President Richard Nixon suspended
564-535: A grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver. Section 20 of the Act designates the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States: [T]he money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units...and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. Unlike
658-566: A limited extent" as money. Treasury Notes were again printed to help resolve the reduction in public revenues resulting from the Panic of 1837 and the Panic of 1857 , as well as to help finance the Mexican–American War and the Civil War . Paper money was issued again in 1862 without the backing of precious metals due to the Civil War . In addition to Treasury Notes, Congress in 1861 authorized
752-773: A reserve currency. In the economy of the Americas, the Canadian dollar plays a similar role to that played by the Australian dollar (AUD) in the Asia-Pacific region. The Canadian dollar (as a regional reserve currency for banking) has been an important part of the British, French and Dutch Caribbean states' economies and finance systems since the 1950s. The Canadian dollar is also held by many central banks in Central America and South America. It
846-649: A series of revisions to the gold peg was implemented, culminating in the Nixon Shock of August 15, 1971, which suddenly ended the convertibility of dollars to gold. The U.S. dollar has since floated freely on the foreign exchange markets . Congress continued to issue paper money after the Civil War, the latest of which is the Federal Reserve Note that was authorized by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 . Since
940-407: A single reserve currency will always dominate the global economy. Many have recently argued that one currency will almost always dominate due to network externalities (sometimes called "the network effect"), especially in the field of invoicing trade and denominating foreign debt securities, meaning that there are strong incentives to conform to the choice that dominates the marketplace. The argument
1034-550: A supplementary forex reserve asset on 1 October 2016. It represents 10.92% of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency basket. The Chinese renmimbi is the third reserve currency after the U.S. dollar and euro within the basket of currencies in the SDR. (As shown in the table above , the renmimbi is the sixth largest component of international currency reserves.) A number of central banks (and commercial banks) keep Canadian dollars as
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#17328490154201128-487: A treasury assay of the average fine silver content of a selection of worn Spanish dollars , which came out to be 371 grains. Combined with the prevailing gold-silver ratio of 15, the standard for gold was calculated at 371/15 = 24.73 grains fine gold or 26.98 grains 22K gold. Rounding the latter to 27.0 grains finalized the dollar's standard to 24.75 grains of fine gold or 24.75*15 = 371.25 grains = 24.0566 grams = 0.7735 troy ounces of fine silver. The same coinage act also set
1222-526: Is 24 feet (7.3 m) wide at the top and 750 feet (230 m) wide at its base. Herrington Lake is the deepest lake in Kentucky. It is 35 miles (56 km) long, up to 1,200 feet (370 m) wide, covers 2,335 acres (945 ha) and has 325 miles (523 km) of shoreline. It is deepest near the Dix Dam with water depth of 249 feet (76 m) and has a mean depth of 78 feet (24 m). The estimated capacity of
1316-497: Is burned annually at Brown Station. Four of the combustion turbine units can deliver 110 megawatts each; the other two can produce 164 megawatts each. During periods of high demand, the combustion turbines can be started and come to full load in just 30 minutes. US $ This is an accepted version of this page The United States dollar ( symbol : $ ; currency code : USD ; also abbreviated US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies ; referred to as
1410-544: Is determined daily by the IMF, based on the exchange rates of the currencies making up the basket, as quoted at noon at the London market. The valuation basket is reviewed and adjusted every five years. The SDR Values and yen conversion for government procurement are used by the Japan External Trade Organization for Japan's official procurement in international trade . The Chinese renminbi officially became
1504-572: Is held in Latin America because of remittances and international trade in the region. Because Canada's primary foreign-trade relationship is with the United States, Canadian consumers, economists, and many businesses primarily define and value the Canadian dollar in terms of the United States dollar. Thus, by observing how the Canadian dollar floats in terms of the US dollar, foreign-exchange economists can indirectly observe internal behaviours and patterns in
1598-454: Is one of the first words of Section 9, in which the term refers to the Spanish milled dollar , or the coin worth eight Spanish reales . In 1792, the U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act , of which Section 9 authorized the production of various coins, including: Dollars or Units —each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of
1692-455: Is that it is derived from the Pillars of Hercules on the Spanish coat of arms of the Spanish dollar . These Pillars of Hercules on the silver Spanish dollar coins take the form of two vertical bars ( || ) and a swinging cloth band in the shape of an S . Yet another explanation suggests that the dollar sign was formed from the capital letters U and S written or printed one on top of
1786-619: Is that the world may well soon begin to move away from a financial system dominated uniquely by the US dollar. In the first half of the 20th century, multiple currencies did share the status as primary reserve currencies. Although the British Sterling was the largest currency, both the French franc and the German mark shared large portions of the market until the First World War, after which the mark
1880-499: Is that, in the absence of sufficiently large shocks, a currency that dominates the marketplace will not lose much ground to challengers. However, some economists, such as Barry Eichengreen , argue that this is not as true when it comes to the denomination of official reserves because the network externalities are not strong. As long as the currency's market is sufficiently liquid, the benefits of reserve diversification are strong, as it insures against large capital losses. The implication
1974-644: Is the most widely held currency in the allocated reserves. As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the USD accounted for 58.36% of official foreign exchange reserves. This makes it somewhat easier for the United States to run higher trade deficits with greatly postponed economic ramifications or even postponing a currency crisis . Central bank US dollar reserves, however, are small compared to private holdings of such debt. If non-United States holders of dollar-denominated assets decided to shift holdings to assets denominated in other currencies, then there could be serious consequences for
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#17328490154202068-577: The Bank of France in the 18th century. The British pound sterling , in particular, was poised to dislodge the Spanish dollar's hegemony as the rest of the world transitioned to the gold standard in the last quarter of the 19th century. At that point, the UK was the primary exporter of manufactured goods and services, and over 60% of world trade was invoiced in pounds sterling. British banks were also expanding overseas; London
2162-468: The Coinage Act of 1834 the dollar's fine gold equivalent was revised to 23.2 grains; it was slightly adjusted to 23.22 grains (1.505 g) in 1837 (gold-silver ratio ~16). The same act also resolved the difficulty in minting the "standard silver" of 89.24% fineness by revising the dollar's alloy to 412.5 grains, 90% silver, still containing 371.25 grains fine silver. Gold was also revised to 90% fineness: 25.8 grains gross, 23.22 grains fine gold. Following
2256-544: The Comstock Lode in the 1870s. This was the so-called "Crime of '73". The Gold Standard Act of 1900 repealed the U.S. dollar's historic link to silver and defined it solely as 23.22 grains (1.505 g) of fine gold (or $ 20.67 per troy ounce of 480 grains). In 1933, gold coins were confiscated by Executive Order 6102 under Franklin D. Roosevelt , and in 1934 the standard was changed to $ 35 per troy ounce fine gold, or 13.71 grains (0.888 g) per dollar. After 1968
2350-527: The Continental Congress resolved that the money unit of the United States, the dollar, would contain 375.64 grains of fine silver; on August 8, 1786, the Continental Congress continued that definition and further resolved that the money of account, corresponding with the division of coins, would proceed in a decimal ratio , with the sub-units being mills at 0.001 of a dollar, cents at 0.010 of
2444-467: The Dutch pioneered in modern-day New York in the 17th century the use and the counting of money in silver dollars in the form of German-Dutch reichsthalers and native Dutch leeuwendaalders ('lion dollars'), it was the ubiquitous Spanish American eight-real coin which became exclusively known as the dollar since the 18th century. The colloquialism buck(s) (much like the British quid for
2538-551: The European debt crisis which engulfed the PIIGS countries from 2009 to 2014. Instead the euro's stability and future existence was put into doubt, and its share of global reserves was cut to 19% by year-end 2015 (vs 66% for the USD). As of year-end 2020 these figures stand at 21% for EUR and 59% for USD. The United Kingdom's pound sterling was the primary reserve currency of much of the world in
2632-605: The First World War , and displaced the pound sterling as the world's primary reserve currency by the Bretton Woods Agreement towards the end of the Second World War . The dollar is the most widely used currency in international transactions , and a free-floating currency . It is also the official currency in several countries and the de facto currency in many others, with Federal Reserve Notes (and, in
2726-465: The German mark gained the status of the second most important reserve currency after the US dollar. When the euro was introduced on 1 January 1999, replacing the mark, French franc and ten other European currencies, it inherited the status of a major reserve currency from the mark. Since then, its contribution to official reserves has risen continually as banks seek to diversify their reserves, and trade in
2820-595: The Russian invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions, Russia has used the United Arab Emirates dirham as a neutral currency when selling oil to India. Some have proposed the use of the International Monetary Fund 's (IMF) special drawing rights (SDRs) as a reserve. The value of SDRs are calculated from a basket determined by the IMF of key international currencies, which as of 2016 consisted of
2914-667: The United States 's exorbitant privilege . The United States Mint has issued legal tender coins every year from 1792 to the present. From 1934 to the present, the only denominations produced for circulation have been the familiar penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar. Reserve currency A reserve currency is a foreign currency that is held in significant quantities by central banks or other monetary authorities as part of their foreign exchange reserves . The reserve currency can be used in international transactions, international investments and all aspects of
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3008-480: The United States dollar , euro , renminbi , yen , and pound sterling . Ahead of a G20 summit in 2009, China distributed a paper that proposed using SDRs for clearing international payments and eventually as a reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar. On 3 September 2009, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued a report calling for a new reserve currency based on
3102-467: The bancor , a supranational currency to be used as unit of account in international trade, as reserve currency under the Bretton Woods Conference of 1945. The bancor was rejected in favor of the U.S. dollar . A report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2010, called for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the single major reserve currency. The report states that
3196-499: The dollar , U.S. dollar , American dollar , or colloquially buck ) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries . The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar , divided it into 100 cents , and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes , popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color. The U.S. dollar
3290-461: The eurozone continues to expand. After the euro 's share of global official foreign exchange reserves approached 25% as of year-end 2006 (vs 65% for the U.S. dollar ; see table above), some experts have predicted that the euro could replace the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency. See Alan Greenspan , 2007; and Frankel, Chinn (2006) who explained how it could happen by 2020. However, as of 2022 none of this has come to fruition due to
3384-401: The pound sterling ) is often used to refer to dollars of various nations, including the U.S. dollar. This term, dating to the 18th century, may have originated with the colonial leather trade, or it may also have originated from a poker term. Greenback is another nickname, originally applied specifically to the 19th-century Demand Note dollars, which were printed black and green on
3478-419: The 19th century and first half of the 20th century. That status ended when the UK almost bankrupted itself fighting World War I and World War II and its place was taken by the United States dollar. In the 1950s, 55% of global reserves were still held in sterling; but the share was 10% lower within 20 years. The establishment of the U.S. Federal Reserve System in 1913 and the economic vacuum following
3572-496: The Arab world from the 13th to 16th centuries, since gold was easier than silver to mint in standard sizes and transport over long distances. It was the Spanish silver dollar , however, which created the first true global reserve currency recognized in Europe, Asia and the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries due to abundant silver supplies from Spanish America . While the Dutch guilder
3666-518: The Constitution provides that "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time", which is further specified by Section 331 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code. The sums of money reported in the "Statements" are currently expressed in U.S. dollars, thus the U.S. dollar may be described as the unit of account of the United States. "Dollar"
3760-571: The Federal Reserve estimated that the total amount of currency in circulation was approximately US$ 2.33 trillion . Article I , Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides that Congress has the power "[t]o coin money ." Laws implementing this power are currently codified in Title 31 of the U.S. Code , under Section 5112, which prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued. These coins are both designated in
3854-877: The Spanish milled dollar, the Continental Congress and the Coinage Act prescribed a decimal system of units to go with the unit dollar, as follows: the mill , or one-thousandth of a dollar; the cent , or one-hundredth of a dollar; the dime , or one-tenth of a dollar; and the eagle , or ten dollars. The current relevance of these units: The Spanish peso or dollar was historically divided into eight reales (colloquially, bits ) – hence pieces of eight . Americans also learned counting in non-decimal bits of 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 cents before 1857 when Mexican bits were more frequently encountered than American cents; in fact this practice survived in New York Stock Exchange quotations until 2001. In 1854, Secretary of
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3948-530: The Treasury James Guthrie proposed creating $ 100, $ 50, and $ 25 gold coins, to be referred to as a union , half union , and quarter union , respectively, thus implying a denomination of 1 Union = $ 100. However, no such coins were ever struck, and only patterns for the $ 50 half union exist. When currently issued in circulating form, denominations less than or equal to a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins , while denominations greater than or equal to
4042-837: The Treasury to borrow $ 50 million in the form of Demand Notes , which did not bear interest but could be redeemed on demand for precious metals. However, by December 1861, the Union government's supply of specie was outstripped by demand for redemption and they were forced to suspend redemption temporarily. In February 1862 Congress passed the Legal Tender Act of 1862 , issuing United States Notes , which were not redeemable on demand and bore no interest, but were legal tender , meaning that creditors had to accept them at face value for any payment except for public debts and import tariffs. However, silver and gold coins continued to be issued, resulting in
4136-486: The US economy that could not be seen by direct observation. Also, because it is considered a petrodollar , the Canadian dollar has only fully evolved into a global reserve currency since the 1970s, when it was floated against all other world currencies. The Canadian dollar, from 2013 to 2017, was ranked fifth among foreign currency reserves in the world, overtaking Australian Dollar, but is then being overtaken by Chinese Yuan. The Swiss franc , despite gaining ground among
4230-423: The US economy. The decline of the pound sterling took place gradually over time, and the markets involved adjusted accordingly. However, the US dollar remains the preferred reserve currency because of its stability due to scale and liquidity. The US dollar's position in global reserves is often questioned because of the growing share of unallocated reserves, and because of the doubt regarding dollar stability in
4324-450: The United States and to supervise its banking system, particularly in the aftermath of the Panic of 1907 . For most of the post-war period, the U.S. government has financed its own spending by borrowing heavily from the dollar-lubricated global capital markets, in debts denominated in its own currency and at minimal interest rates. This ability to borrow heavily without facing a significant balance of payments crisis has been described as
4418-625: The United States until the Coinage Act of 1857 . In particular, colonists' familiarity with the Spanish two- real quarter peso was the reason for issuing a quasi-decimal 25-cent quarter dollar coin rather than a 20-cent coin. For the relationship between the Spanish dollar and the individual state colonial currencies, see Connecticut pound , Delaware pound , Georgia pound , Maryland pound , Massachusetts pound , New Hampshire pound , New Jersey pound , New York pound , North Carolina pound , Pennsylvania pound , Rhode Island pound , South Carolina pound , and Virginia pound . On July 6, 1785,
4512-402: The United States was a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows. After the United States emerged as an even stronger global superpower during the Second World War , the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the U.S. dollar as the world's primary reserve currency and the only post-war currency linked to gold. Despite all links to gold being severed in 1971, the dollar continues to be
4606-460: The World Wars facilitated the emergence of the United States as an economic superpower. As of 30 September 2021 , the pound sterling represented the fourth largest proportion (by USD equivalent value) of foreign currency reserves and 4.78% of those reserves. Japan's yen is part of the International Monetary Fund 's (IMF) special drawing rights (SDR) valuation. The SDR currency value
4700-447: The aggregated Currency Composition of Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) each quarter. The reserves of the individual reporting countries and institutions are confidential. Thus the following table is a limited view about the global currency reserves that only deals with allocated (i.e. reported) reserves: The percental composition of currencies of official foreign exchange reserves from 1995 to 2022. Economists debate whether
4794-513: The average Spanish dollar in circulation. The new U.S. silver dollar of 371.25 grains (24.057 g) therefore compared favorably and was received at par with the Spanish dollar for foreign payments, and after 1803 the United States Mint had to suspend making this coin out of its limited resources since it failed to stay in domestic circulation. It was only after Mexican independence in 1821 when their peso's fine silver content of 377.1 grains
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#17328490154204888-496: The backside, created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the North for the Civil War . It is still used to refer to the U.S. dollar (but not to the dollars of other countries). The term greenback is also used by the financial press in other countries, such as Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , and India . Other well-known names of the dollar as a whole in denominations include greenmail , green , and dead presidents ,
4982-440: The buying and selling of goods. This allowed the value of things to remain fairly constant over time, except for the influx and outflux of gold and silver in the nation's economy. Though a Spanish dollar freshly minted after 1772 theoretically contained 417.7 grains of silver of fineness 130/144 (or 377.1 grains fine silver), reliable assays of the period in fact confirmed a fine silver content of 370.95 grains (24.037 g) for
5076-517: The convertibility of the USD to gold , thus creating a fully fiat global reserve currency system. However, gold has persisted as a significant reserve asset since the collapse of the classical gold standard. Following the 2020 economic recession , the IMF opined about the emergence of "A New Bretton Woods Moment" which could imply the need for a new global reserve currency system. (see below: § Calls for an alternative reserve currency ) The IMF publishes
5170-414: The currency, a practice compared to the policies of European monarchs. The currency as we know it today did not get the faces they currently have until after the early 20th century; before that "heads" side of coinage used profile faces and striding, seated, and standing figures from Greek and Roman mythology and composite Native Americans. The last coins to be converted to profiles of historic Americans were
5264-669: The dam as part of the Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Project , with the aim of protecting and increasing the trout population in the Dix River. The original hydroelectric plant is now used mainly when heavy rainfall results in above normal lake elevation. The plant was overhauled in 2010 and now produces up to 33 megawatts of power with all three units on. The three coal-fired generators can produce 700 megawatts of electricity, more than one-fifth of KU's total capacity. An average of 15,000,000 short tons (1.4 × 10 kg) of coal
5358-607: The depreciation of the newly printed notes through Gresham's law . In 1869, Supreme Court ruled in Hepburn v. Griswold that Congress could not require creditors to accept United States Notes, but overturned that ruling the next year in the Legal Tender Cases . In 1875, Congress passed the Specie Payment Resumption Act , requiring the Treasury to allow U.S. Notes to be redeemed for gold after January 1, 1879. Though
5452-647: The dime (1946), the half Dollar (1948), and the Dollar (1971). After the American Revolution , the Thirteen Colonies became independent . Freed from British monetary regulations, they each issued £sd paper money to pay for military expenses. The Continental Congress also began issuing "Continental Currency" denominated in Spanish dollars. For its value relative to states' currencies, see Early American currency . Continental currency depreciated badly during
5546-426: The discontinuation of all other types of notes (Gold Certificates in 1933, Silver Certificates in 1963, and United States Notes in 1971), U.S. dollar notes have since been issued exclusively as Federal Reserve Notes . The U.S. dollar first emerged as an important international reserve currency in the 1920s, displacing the British pound sterling as it emerged from the First World War relatively unscathed and since
5640-577: The dollar as the reserve currency. However, it is recognized that the US dollar remains the strongest reserve currency. On 10 July 2009, Russian President Medvedev proposed a new ' World currency ' at the G8 meeting in London as an alternative reserve currency to replace the dollar. At the beginning of the 21st century, gold and crude oil were still priced in dollars, which helps export inflation and has brought complaints about OPEC 's policies of managing oil quotas to maintain dollar price stability . Due to
5734-421: The dollar came under the gold standard de jure only after 1900, the bimetallic era was ended de facto when the Coinage Act of 1873 suspended the minting of the standard silver dollar of 412.5 Troy grains = 26.73 g; 0.859 ozt, the only fully legal tender coin that individuals could convert bullion into in unlimited (or Free silver ) quantities, and right at the onset of the silver rush from
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#17328490154205828-509: The dollar overtook the pound sterling as the dominant global reserve currency. In 1944, when the US dollar was chosen as the world reference currency at Bretton Woods, it was only the second currency in global reserves. The G8 also frequently issues public statements as to exchange rates . In the past due to the Plaza Accord , its predecessor bodies could directly manipulate rates to reverse large trade deficits . The United States dollar
5922-482: The economy in which it is used. Thus, as a currency becomes less stable, or its economy becomes less dominant, bankers may over time abandon it for a currency issued by a larger or more stable economy. This can take a relatively long time, as recognition is important in determining a reserve currency. For example, it took many years after the United States overtook the United Kingdom as the world's largest economy before
6016-657: The evolution of the world’s geopolitical order. International currencies in the past have (excluding those discussed below) included the Greek drachma , coined in the fifth century B.C.E., the Roman denarii , the Byzantine solidus and Islamic dinar of the middle-ages and the French franc . The Venetian ducat and the Florentine florin became the gold-based currency of choice between Europe and
6110-405: The global economy. It is often considered a hard currency or safe-haven currency . The United Kingdom's pound sterling was the primary reserve currency of much of the world in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. However, by the middle of the 20th century, the United States dollar had become the world's dominant reserve currency. Reserve currencies have come and gone with
6204-503: The gold standard fell. Speculative attacks on the pound forced Britain entirely off the gold standard in 1931. After World War II , the international financial system was governed by a formal agreement, the Bretton Woods system . Under this system, the United States dollar (USD) was placed deliberately as the anchor of the system, with the US government guaranteeing other central banks that they could sell their US dollar reserves at
6298-453: The lake is 175,000,000,000 US gallons (660,000,000 m). The hydroelectric generating station was originally designed to produce 30 megawatts of power. Over time other generating plants were constructed near the dam and the facility was named E. W. Brown Generating Station . A coal-fired generator was added to the Brown Plant in 1957. More recently, a combustion turbine generating facility
6392-397: The latter of which referring to the deceased presidents pictured on most bills. Dollars in general have also been known as bones (e.g. "twenty bones" = $ 20). The newer designs, with portraits displayed in the main body of the obverse (rather than in cameo insets), upon paper color-coded by denomination, are sometimes referred to as bigface notes or Monopoly money . Piastre
6486-531: The long term. However, in the aftermath of the 2008 to 2010 financial crisis, the dollar's share in the world's foreign-exchange trades rose slightly from 85% in 2010 to 87% in 2013. The dollar's role as the undisputed reserve currency of the world allows the United States to impose unilateral sanctions against actions performed between other countries, for example the American fine against BNP Paribas for violations of U.S. sanctions that were not laws of France or
6580-401: The modern-day World Bank Group , establishing the infrastructure for conducting international payments and accessing the global capital markets using the U.S. dollar. The monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System , which acts as the nation's central bank . It was founded in 1913 under the Federal Reserve Act in order to furnish an elastic currency for
6674-471: The new reserve system should not be based on a single currency or even multiple national currencies but instead permit the emission of international liquidity to create a more stable global financial system. Countries such as Russia and China, central banks, and economic analysts and groups, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council , have expressed a desire to see an independent new currency replace
6768-512: The numerical amount, is used for the U.S. dollar (as well as for many other currencies). The sign was perhaps the result of a late 18th-century evolution of the scribal abbreviation p for the peso , the common name for the Spanish dollars that were in wide circulation in the New World from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to $ . Another popular explanation
6862-419: The other countries involved in the transactions. In 2014, China and Russia signed a 150 billion yuan central bank liquidity swap line agreement to get around European and American sanctions on their behaviors. The euro is currently the second most commonly held reserve currency, representing about 20% of international foreign currency reserves. After World War II and the rebuilding of the German economy ,
6956-546: The other. This theory, popularized by novelist Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged , does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use before the formation of the United States. The U.S. dollar was introduced at par with the Spanish-American silver dollar (or Spanish peso , Spanish milled dollar , eight-real coin , piece-of-eight ). The latter was produced from the rich silver mine output of Spanish America ,
7050-478: The rise in the price of silver during the California Gold Rush and the disappearance of circulating silver coins, the Coinage Act of 1853 reduced the standard for silver coins less than $ 1 from 412.5 grains to 384 grains (24.9 g), 90% silver per 100 cents (slightly revised to 25.0 g, 90% silver in 1873). The Act also limited the free silver right of individuals to convert bullion into only one coin,
7144-559: The section as " legal tender " in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, in contrast to the American Silver Eagle which is pure silver . Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins, which have values ranging from one cent ( U.S. Penny ) to 100 dollars. These other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar . Article I, Section 9 of
7238-552: The silver dollar at the rate of 1 silver dollar to 1000 continental dollars. This resulted in the clause "No state shall... make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts" being written into the United States Constitution article 1, section 10 . From implementation of the 1792 Mint Act to the 1900 implementation of the gold standard , the dollar was on a bimetallic silver-and-gold standard, defined as either 371.25 grains (24.056 g) of fine silver or 24.75 grains of fine gold (gold-silver ratio 15). Subsequent to
7332-474: The silver dollar of 412.5 grains; smaller coins of lower standard can only be produced by the United States Mint using its own bullion. Summary and links to coins issued in the 19th century: In order to finance the War of 1812 , Congress authorized the issuance of Treasury Notes , interest-bearing short-term debt that could be used to pay public dues. While they were intended to serve as debt, they did function "to
7426-414: The value of an eagle at 10 dollars, and the dollar at 1 ⁄ 10 eagle. It called for silver coins in denominations of 1, 1 ⁄ 2 , 1 ⁄ 4 , 1 ⁄ 10 , and 1 ⁄ 20 dollar, as well as gold coins in denominations of 1, 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 ⁄ 4 eagle. The value of gold or silver contained in the dollar was then converted into relative value in the economy for
7520-423: The war, giving rise to the famous phrase "not worth a continental". A primary problem was that monetary policy was not coordinated between Congress and the states, which continued to issue bills of credit. Additionally, neither Congress nor the governments of the several states had the will or the means to retire the bills from circulation through taxation or the sale of bonds. The currency was ultimately replaced by
7614-501: The world's foreign-currency reserves and being often used in denominating foreign loans, cannot be considered as a world reserve currency, since the share of all foreign exchange reserves held in Swiss francs has historically been well below 0.5%. The daily trading market turnover of the franc, however, ranked fifth, or about 3.4%, among all currencies in a 2007 survey by the Bank for International Settlements . John Maynard Keynes proposed
7708-408: The world's foremost reserve currency for international trade to this day. The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 also defined the post-World War II monetary order and relations among modern-day independent states , by setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system . The agreement founded the International Monetary Fund and other institutions of
7802-550: Was a reserve currency of somewhat lesser scope, used between Europe and the territories of the Dutch colonial empire from the 17th to 18th centuries, it was also a silver standard currency fed with the output of Spanish-American mines flowing through the Spanish Netherlands . The Dutch, through the Amsterdam Wisselbank (the Bank of Amsterdam ), were also the first to establish a reserve currency whose monetary unit
7896-417: Was added with six turbine units - four more are planned. They are fueled by either natural gas or fuel oil. Kentucky Utilities' systems control center has been located inside the Dix Dam plant since the 1920s. In 1954, they built a new control center near the dam. Subsequently, they have modernized and computerized the control center. In 1991, Kentucky Utilities constructed a fish ladder in the Dix River near
7990-502: Was constructed by Kentucky Utilities , a private corporation prior to the Great Depression. Consequently, Kentucky Utilities owns the land beneath Herrington Lake up to the maximum possible lake level of 760 feet (230 m) above sea level. It also owns Dix Dam. When Dix Dam was built, it was the largest rock filled dam in the world. The top of the dam is 287 feet (87 m) above the riverbed and 1,087 feet (331 m) across and
8084-509: Was established in 1865. Peru, Columbia and Venezuela also adopted the system in the 1860s and 1870s. Attempts were made in the interwar period to restore the gold standard. The British Gold Standard Act reintroduced the gold bullion standard in 1925, followed by many other countries. This led to relative stability, followed by deflation , but because the onset of the Great Depression and other factors, global trade greatly declined and
8178-412: Was firmly upheld, which the U.S. later had to compete with using a heavier 378.0 grains (24.49 g) Trade dollar coin . The early currency of the United States did not exhibit faces of presidents, as is the custom now; although today, by law, only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency. In fact, the newly formed government was against having portraits of leaders on
8272-412: Was later shortened to the German taler , a word that eventually found its way into many languages, including: tolar ( Czech , Slovak and Slovenian ); daler ( Danish and Swedish ); talar ( Polish ); dalar and daler ( Norwegian ); daler or daalder ( Dutch ); talari ( Ethiopian ); tallér ( Hungarian ); tallero ( Italian ); دولار ( Arabic ); and dollar ( English ). Though
8366-686: Was minted in Mexico City , Potosí (Bolivia), Lima (Peru), and elsewhere, and was in wide circulation throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The minting of machine-milled Spanish dollars since 1732 boosted its worldwide reputation as a trade coin and positioned it to be the model for the new currency of the United States . Even after the United States Mint commenced issuing coins in 1792, locally minted dollars and cents were less abundant in circulation than Spanish American pesos and reales ; hence Spanish, Mexican, and American dollars all remained legal tender in
8460-461: Was originally defined under a bimetallic standard of 371.25 grains (24.057 g) (0.7734375 troy ounces) fine silver or, from 1834 , 23.22 grains (1.505 g) fine gold, or $ 20.67 per troy ounce . The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $ 35 per troy ounce . In 1971 all links to gold were repealed. The U.S. dollar became an important international reserve currency after
8554-467: Was replaced by the dollar. Since the Second World War, the dollar has dominated official reserves, but this is likely a reflection of the unusual domination of the American economy during this period, as well as official discouragement of reserve status from the potential rivals, Germany and Japan. The top reserve currency is generally selected by the banking community for the strength and stability of
8648-467: Was stabilized using practices familiar to modern central banking (as opposed to the Spanish dollar stabilized through American mine output and Spanish fiat) and which can be considered as the precursor to modern-day monetary policy . It was therefore the Dutch which served as the model for bank money and reserve currencies stabilized by central banks, with the establishment of Bank of England in 1694 and
8742-590: Was the original French word for the U.S. dollar, used for example in the French text of the Louisiana Purchase . Though the U.S. dollar is called dollar in Modern French, the term piastre is still used among the speakers of Cajun French and New England French , as well as speakers in Haiti and other French-speaking Caribbean islands. Nicknames specific to denomination: The symbol $ , usually written before
8836-486: Was the world centre for insurance and commodity markets and British capital was the leading source of foreign investment around the world; sterling soon became the standard currency used for international commercial transactions. On continental Europe, the bimetallic standard of the French franc remained the unifying currency of several European countries and their colonies under the Latin Monetary Union , which
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