U.S. Government Prints 1 Billion Unusable $100 Bills

The new counterfeit-proof bill is so complex it’s foiling government printers.

You know the U.S. economy is in trouble when the Treasury can’t even print money correctly anymore. Over $110 billion worth of $100 bills is currently locked away in vaults after a problem in the manufacturing process resulted defects in 30 per cent of them. Because separating the good bills from the defected ones by hand would take 20 years, officials are scrambling to come up with a mechanical way to sort the bills. The locked-away bills represent a staggering ten per cent of U.S. currency on the planet, estimated at $930 billion in bills. Each of the new bills costs about 12 cents to create, meaning the wasted cost of manufacturing the blemished Benjamins will top $120 million.