Posted on 12/06/2010 3:16:06 PM PST by MamaDearest
A new headache may have been created for US and international currency use as it has been determined that a flaw was created in the printing of up to 30% of all new $100.00 bills scheduled for distribution in 2011.
In a new report by CNBC today, an official familiar with the problem reported that the new $100 bills are so complex that the printers at the mint have experienced massive problems in the creation of the notes.
A significant production problem with new high-tech $100 bills has caused government printers to shut down production of the new notes and to quarantine more than one billion of the bills in huge vaults in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, DC, CNBC has learned.
An official familiar with the situation told CNBC that 1.1 billion of the new bills have been printed, but they are unusable because of a creasing problem in which paper folds over during production, revealing a blank unlinked portion of the bill face.
A second person familiar with the situation said that at the height of the problem, as many as 30 percent of the bills rolling off the printing press included the flaw, leading to the production shut down.
The total face value of the unusable bills, $110 billion, represents more than ten percent of the entire supply of US currency on the planet, which a government source said is $930 billion in banknotes. For now, the unusable bills are stored in the vaults in "cash packs" of four bundles of 4,000 each, with each pack containing 16,000 bills.
Every few years, the Treasury department spends billions of dollars ensuring against the counterfeiting measures criminals have at their disposal to debase our currency. This new bill for the $100 denomination is expected to be more like Europe in its composition and color scheme, and as such, the complexity for even the mint gets tested with the new model notes.
Assuredly, there is time to address the issue, and for the Treasury to have enough bills to satisfy the markets when 2011 rolls around. But even a slight error such as this one has the capacity to hinder our money supply, especially since the $100 denomination is the most used federal reserve note for national and international transactions.
New
So, do we need to “invest” in the old hundred dollar bills? Will they be worth more since there won’t be enough in circulation? Just half joking.
Who, besides drug dealers, uses $100’s?
I’ll be glad to take any of the flawed bills, just send them my way and you won’t get any complaints from me.
Problem solved...
Just mint a billion $100 Silver coins intead.
(one ounce of Silver in each).
Whew! I was scared there for a minute. Thought maybe the patients really were running the asylum and didn’t know what they were doing. Guess we’re OK after all.
It's not a flaw it's a feature.
They left a spot blank where they can put on the extra zeros ";^)
The only flaw I could think of is...TIM GEITNERS name on it. I hope I spelled it correctly.
In other news, the treasury will ask North Korea for advisors to come in and show the printing press operators how to do it right and not muck it up.
Even the presses are regurgitating at all the spending.
Are you a little kid? Grownups use big bills when buying large items, like a boat or a motorcycle or a trailer.
Watch out, the ink’s still wet.
The whole us government is flawed and the non federal no reserve should be shut down and charged with FRAUD!
Since they aren’t worht $100 anymore, what’s the big deal?
I'm with ya. Put 'em away for a few years and the numismatic value will far outpace inflation, I'm guessing.
Why the heck didn’t they stop the presses when the problem was first spotted? Not $100,000,000,000.00 later. Talk about government waste. The 12 year old down the street could probably do a better job in photoshop.
So you're telling me they printed 1.1 BILLION flawed bills because nobody noticed??
It would appear that the federal government can't do a damn thing right, up to and including basic quality control.
Yet some people want these people controlling our lives.
"Close enough for government work."
I'd take those too instead. Although aren't flawed coins and bills worth more money as collectibles down the pike? I read some of the state quarters (Wisconsin) were printed incorrectly and are now worth lots more than a quarter.
That's very funny coming from the people who are doing it with massive debt.
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