A printing error on the fancy new $100 bills means that nearly a billion are in storage until the government figures out how many to destroy. The paper got creased during printing, leaving a portion of Franklin’s face uninked. It’s a $110 billion boo-boo!

The bills feature an array of hi-tech anti-counterfeit measures, many of which change when you tilt the bill, like:

• A 3D security strip with 100s that change to bells
• An inkwell with a copper bell inside that to green
• In the lower right-hand corner a copper 100 that changes to green

All that protection comes at a cost, though, about 12 cents a bill. Meaning that the gov just spent $120 million to make a bunch of money it can’t use. Hey, wasn’t it supposed to be called quantitative “easing?” Instead it’s making me queasy.

The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins [CNBC]

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