ESWAR PRASAD is Senior Professor of Trade Policy in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author of The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance.

George Washington’s portrait The United States’ first president, George Washington, has been on the front side of the one-dollar bill since 1869, Maurer says. His portrait is framed in an oval on the center of the bill,

Scores of parks across the country have implemented or are transitioning to “cashless” payment systems. This isn’t a glitch in the system. It’s a symptom of a larger, and dangerous, trend.

If the United States is to significantly reduce or, whisper it, eliminate its trade deficit, the dollar will probably have to weaken a lot. How much is unclear, though, as history shows large dollar declines are rare and have unpredictable consequences for trade.

Most people encounter the dollar sign on a daily basis: in stores, on websites, in the media and more. The symbol also serves as shorthand, referring to money, wealth, capitalism, commercialism and commodification.

U.S. stocks remain in limbo on Tuesday as the wait continues to hear what will come of trade talks underway between the United States and China. The S&P 500 was edging up by 0.1% in early trading as talks between the world’s two largest economies carried into a second day.