Money in New York is counted in dollars and cents:
1 dollar = 100 cents
Money comes in four forms:
1. Coins made of cheap metal (with their rough value in metric pennies, which have 0.5 grams of silver):
- dollar (5)
- quarter (1.25)
- dime (0.5)
- nickel (0.25)
- penny (0.05)
2. Paper notes:
- 20-dollar note (100)
- 10-dollar note (50)
- 5-dollar note (25)
- 1-dollar note (5)
Paper money did not become common till the 1930s.
3. Cheques: a piece of paper issued by your bank where you write in how much to pay someone and then sign it. Not in common use till the 1890s.
4. Plastic bank cards: Most money exists as numbers in computers. Your card tells the computer at your bank to subtract money from your account and add it to another. Commonly used for amounts over $100 starting in the 1970s.
Yesterday on May 11th 2007 I gathered prices in New York. To make them easy to compare with those of Shakespeare and Leonardo, I have converted them to metric pennies.
To get the original dollars, divide by five; to get current British pounds, divide by ten and to get grams of silver divide by two.
What people get paid in New York (and the presidents, secretaries of state and senators who live in Washington) in metric pennies a day:
379000 Chuck Prince, head of the largest bank in New York
7600 president
6060 surgeon
3550 secretary of state (foreign minister)
3100 senator
3050 judge
2380 airline captain
1800 pastor
1750 computer programmer
1550 English professor
1150 undertaker
1120 teacher
1050 actor
1025 store manager
1015 secretary
860 fireman
655 taxi driver
630 watchman
500 cook
430 waiter
400 bus driver
400 maid
400 labourer
300 beggar
I assumed an 8-hour work day and a 250-day work year. Some get free food, like beggars and cooks. I do not figure that in.
Prices in metric pennies (those above 25 are rounded to the nearest 5):
65000 car
6720 Encyclopaedia Britannica
6100 MacBook computer
4800 washing machine and clothes dryer
1900 television
1665 eyeglasses (mine)
1665 computer
1500 bed for two
950 iPod Nano
800 man's suit
620 two-bedroom flat in Manhattan, daily cost
330 microwave oven
280 small DVD player
260 gold ring, 14k
240 two-bedroom flat in Queens, daily cost
190 boots
190 Complete works of Shakespeare (hardcover, Oxford)
165 see a play
145 shoes
130 hard-cover book
100 tea, kg (makes 400 cups of tea)
95 Webster's Unabridged dictionary
95 dress shirt
95 blue jeans
85 cheese, kg (Swiss)
85 belt
75 film on DVD - "Casino Royale"
75 butter, kg
70 chocolate, kg
70 pepper, kg
65 haircut
65 Bible
55 book (Iliad, Penguin paperback)
50 see a film
50 underwear
50 CD - Beyonce's "B'day" (10 songs)
50 Barbie doll
50 telephone
45 taxi (5 km)
40 beef, kg
40 lock
35 a meal
30 melon
30 magazine (The Economist)
24 scissors
24 knife
24 bread, kg
24 magazine (TIME)
24 Frosted Flakes, kg
22 strawberries, kg
20 magazine (Harper's Bazaar)
17 Big Mac
14 salad
14 beer, L
12 Coke, L
11 dozen eggs
10 subway
9 candle
9 yogurt, kg
8 sugar, kg
7 pair of socks
5 song on iTunes
5 newspaper (New York Times)
4 Internet service, daily cost
2 send a letter
1 4 cups of tea
See also:
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