The Brainwashing Effect of $100 Bills
In yet further evidence that our lives are totally ruled by random quirks and irrationalities, even when it comes to money, new research shows that the way we feel about cash depends on bill denomination. Hundred dollar bills are treated as more valuable than five twenties, and so we're much less likely to break a hundred, especially since once we have, we'll apparently spend the money even more indiscriminately than if it had been smaller bills in the first place. It does make sense: As politicians or mafiosos will confirm, once the mustard-colored strip is broken on an inch-thick bundle of Benjamins from one's briefcase, that $10,000 just disappears on goodness knows what!