FINAL WARNING: Financial Background
Bureau of Printing and Engraving would have a fine metallic strip
running through the currency, leaving the basic design intact;
however, they later decided to use a clear imprinted polyester strip,
woven into the paper, running vertically on the left side of the Federal
Reserve Seal. The length of the translucent polyester filament reads
“USA100” for $100 bills, “USA50” for $50 bills, and so on; and can only
be read if held up to direct light. It was reported that a company called
Checkmate Electronics, Inc., which manufactures the equipment
needed to scan checks, scanned the new money, and found the strip
to contain “machine detectable” aluminum. Their scan produced an
indecipherable bar code.Though the basic design did not change, there was microscopic type
printed around the picture which reads, “The United States of
America,” but appeared to only be a line. This currency with oversized,
off-center portraits, was introduced in 1996 with the $100 bills, then
$50 bills and $20 bills (1998), and culminated with $10’s and $5’s in- The Government discontinued printing any of the old money, and
began emptying their vaults to get rid of the old bills. The old money
was never recalled, and continued to be circulated.
Then in June, 2002, only a few years after the last makeover, the
rumors of colored money became a fact, as the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing announced that further changes were being made to our
money for security reasons. In October, 2003, the new, colored $20 bill
(the most counterfeited note), was introduced. The new bill retained
the security thread, color-shifting ink, and watermark; but also had the
colors of green and peach added to its background, as well as small
yellow “20’s” printed on the back. The new $50 and $100 bills will be
coming in 2004 and 2005.Some financial experts have theorized that when every denomination
is changed over, that the business sector may not want to accept old
bills, which would then become worthless, and could create a financial
emergency. But Federal officials have said that the old money would
be accepted, but scrutinized. It has been suggested that the
government could really take advantage of the situation, that in order
for people to exchange their old money for new, an exchange rate may
be determined which would benefit the economy. For example, it may
take two old dollars to exchange for a new one. It is possible that we