It seems every store i went in on my recent trip had a counterfeit-detecting machine they put my euro notes through before accepting (or possibly excepting) them. My euros have never been turned down but i read that counterfeiting the euro is endemic. I wonder has anyone had their euros rejected by these machines?

No, but I can assure you counterfeiting U.S. money is far, FAR more problematic than that of Euros which is why we are seeing money here change a la the Euro finally.

I'm all for making US currency more secure, but did they have to make the pictures on the bills so cartoony?

What do have against cartoons, Rufus? I think they could have gone further -- the Popeye $1 bill, the Mickey Mouse $5, the Homer Simpson $10.

Patrick - if the Dollar continues to slide it'll ALL be Mickey Mouse money!

(sorry couldn't resist! )

Seriously are you lot changing the design of $ bills? will the different denominations be different coulours and sizes then? At last it will be easier to count up the contents of my wallet when on your side of the pond; I find it sooo confusing! How do partially sighted Americans manage currently? Are there not unscrupulous people who take advantage of their disability?

Dr D.

Sorry Dr DoGood. As far as I know there are no plans afoot to change the sizes or colors of bills. However the newest 20's look as if some one spilled orange soda upon them.

It takes an act of our Congress to change the currency so it doesn't happen often and changes little.

It's really bad for the blind and people with poor vision. They have to buy a special machine to read the bills or have someone tell them. Then they have to be super careful in their wallets to keep the bills sorted. After all that they're still at the mercy of an unscrupulous merchant.

You'd think by now there would have been a class action lawsuit brought about from the Americans with Disabilities Act.

They have just released a new $50 bill, which was supposed to be more colorful than the new $20. I think they both are still very dull compared to what the rest of the world has. I like Patrick's idea for cartoon characters, at least those have some color.

For our friends across the pond who haven't seen it yet, here's a picture of the old versions of the 50, with the newbie at the bottom. If you click the link on the right column you will see the old and new $20's:

http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney...cy/circulation

Is the new money as colorful as what other countries have? You be the judge....

Money, money, makes the world go round, makes the world go round.

As for the above post concerning counterfeiting of dollars is worse than euros. Don't know but i do know that to spend a 50 euro note in Europe is hard as many stores i was in had a sign saying they would not be accepted. I can go in any store in the US practically and cash a $50 or even $100 bill without batting an eyelash!

When the central banks started to ship the new Euro notes to the local banks back few years, there were few succesful robberies that ranged from 1 to 10's of millions of Euros. I know of 2 in Germany and one in Italy. As bad as it looked, the authorities downplayed the robberies because these were all brand new notes and the authorities had the serial numbers. They figured that it will be hard for the robbers to pass any substantial number of these notes without being noticed.
Maybe, they are showing up now and the machines are there to read the serial numbers. Just a thought!