What the Buck?

[Doug Harris]

A NY Times business story today ("On Wall Street, Bonuses, Not Profits, Were Real ") included a
new-to-me escalation of the amount of money that might be referred to as "a buck":
_On Wall Street, the first goal was to make “a buck” — a million dollars. More than 100 people in
Merrill’s bond unit alone broke the million-dollar mark in 2006._
--
The second sentence suggests how widespread that understanding of 'buck' apparently is in the
rightfully-endangered fast-buck community around Wall Street.
It seems like only yesterday, or so, that a 'buck' was a dollar. Then it became five dollars, then
a hundred, and I seem to recall hearing it used to represent a thousand dollars a time or two.
Maybe, if you hang in the right circles, the 'buck' moniker has been attached to assorted other
specific amounts -- say, $100,000, or $100,000,000. Or is Wall Street's (recent?) usage unique,
escalation wise?
dh

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