New $100 Bill: Matt Drudge Is Terrified That It Looks European

In case you haven't heard, the U.S. Treasury unveiled the design of the new $100 bill. It's all tarted up with new colors and new images and it comes complete with a security strip and an onboard MP3 player and new cross-platform "social networking" features. Or something like that.

It's so awesome that they made a video (that appears to have been conceived and directed by Aaron Sorkin), describing its features, and the whole thing was introduced to America by Timothy Geithner and Benjamin Bernanke, because that was totally the best possible use of their time.

And, Lord knows, that should have been it, but instead, Matt Drudge went a little crazy over it, tweeting "EVEN OBAMA'S NEW $100 BILL LOOKS EUROPEAN..." and posting the following doohickey on his eponymous report.

That link, "Might as Well Be a Euro?" That led readers to Juli Weiner's Vanity Fair post on the matter, where she makes fun of precisely the sort of Euro-creep fear-dazzle that Drudge himself was indulging in: "How much socialism, rounded to the nearest thousand, is suggested by this country's new $100 bill?" Drudge apparently took her post deadly seriously.

Also, fun fact: While Drudge attributes the changes to Obama, can you name the Europhile president who actually called for this new design? Click here for the surprising answer!

RELATED:
Juli Weiner Is The New Politico [Wonkette]
America's New $100 Bill Might as Well Be a Euro [Vanity Fair Daily]

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Comments

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

04:24 AM on 04/26/2010

Until the AMOUNT of money is controlled who cares. The Fed is printing money at 800 mph.

[bernusdellus]

04:17 AM on 04/26/2010

You guys crack me up.

I've lived in four English speaking countries in my time, including the U.S.

Everywhere else in the world [at least where I've lived], you look at your cash one day and it looks a little bit different. When you ask your mates about it, it turns out they brought out a new design 3 years ago and you only just twigged to it by being so bored that you look at the money long enough to think about it.

For a country that is potentially so innovative, you sure do sweat the unnecessary details.

It doesn't look European, it looks contemporary. We got see-thru plastic windows and hologram doohickeys on our cash 10 years ago. Its just a neat way of making it hard to use your scanner and colour printer to REALLY make money.

Today's assessment?...

The U.S. gets my cheers for:

1. The space program
2. Bluegrass music
3. The Appalachian Trail
4. Hot-looking women

It gets my jeers for:

a. George Bush
b. The military industrial complex
c. Leading the world in how to start your own fascist corporatocracy
d. Hot-looking women who have nothing going for them other than hot-lookingness

Ok. Hate mailers. Fire when ready!

[gnorrfa]

12:03 PM on 04/24/2010

on the back it says, "in the state we trust." scary. very scary.

[johnmo8]

03:03 AM on 04/26/2010

God obviously created the state so that we could render things to it that belonged there. Stop crying about the loss of god. If the g.o.d. is out there you'll be judged individually not collectively. You want "In God We Trust" on MONEY! SICK! SICK!

[JohnSawyer]

04:05 AM on 04/23/2010

The Europeans have better design sense than is shown by the designers of this bill.

[Hammersmithman]

08:06 PM on 04/23/2010

I agree, the bill looks awful. Wish it WAS designed by Europeans!!!

[shthar]

01:48 AM on 04/23/2010

I don't like it either.

Whoever put that bar in the middle failed design 101 & 102.

Course I'm not likely to ever get one anyway.

[Rogo99]

11:28 PM on 04/22/2010

Does he still wear that European-looking hat?

[OppositeNumber]

08:59 PM on 04/22/2010

I'll have to take Drudge's word on this being as I will likely never actually see the bill (thanks bad economy!)

[GirlFriday123]

07:18 PM on 04/22/2010

Well if it were a Euro it would be worth more.

[larmar]

07:15 PM on 04/22/2010

Non story. This only effects banks and drug dealers.

[larmar]

07:12 PM on 04/22/2010

HP don't even mention Matt Drudge. That right wing screamer does not deserve the attention.

[zlohcuc]

06:32 PM on 04/22/2010

The process of redesigning paper currency has been going on for decades and this particular change has been slated since 2007.The fight against counterfeiting as prosecuted by the Treasury department is for the benifit of every citizen. If Obama was behind every one of the initiatives for which he is excoriated, he would be one of the smartest, most creative and prolific people in the history of mankind. Drudge and the people whoo find his sources and reporting compelling are longing for a world that no longer exists.

[OutAtFirst]

06:12 PM on 04/22/2010

I thought the days of "Euro" as a pejorative were over, but I guess some things are hard to let go of.

[ATrumanDemocrat]

05:33 PM on 04/22/2010

Jason- I don't even have to click on the link to know which Commie Pinko Europhile President is responsible for this outrage- Jimmy Carter. First the mortgage crisis and now this! Don't give that "but he hasn't been President for 30 years- Everything bad that has happened or will happen, ever, is Carter's fault. I even think he is secretly Dubya's father. and Reagen's. And even Old Bush. And Clinton's. AND Obama's! And Herbert Hoover's as well.

[OppositeNumber]

09:00 PM on 04/22/2010

HAHAHAHA awesome and hilarious!

[Untitled]

05:09 PM on 04/22/2010

A bill featuring the face of Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell in an inkwell.

SO EUROPEAN.

[unhipcat]

06:39 PM on 04/22/2010

Franklin? Frank? Franc?

[sweetleopardess]

07:40 PM on 04/22/2010

Well, Benjamin Franklin spent a lot of time in France, so he must have been a Socialist! ;-)

[JohnSawyer]

04:02 AM on 04/23/2010

Glenn Beck will probably catch onto that connection quick, and spread the word far and wide.

[Paul Houston]

04:41 PM on 04/22/2010

Hardly the most advanced changes made to the US Currency. For starters the bills could have been made in different sizes (Say the largest denomination bills being larger than smaller denominations) this would make it easier to have a quick look in your wallet and see how much you have, it would also make it easier for the blind to know what bills they are paying and it would make it harder for counterfeiters as they could not chemically clean a low denomination bill and overprint it as a high denomination bill. The security features incorporated have been around for years. In fact in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam they are now printing there currency on plastic. (Great for starting a conversation when you hand one over!)

[taddles]

04:45 PM on 04/22/2010

Granted that having denominations of different sizes would make things more convenient it would also make for more faux outrage at the supposed European trend in our currency.

[Jennifer Hagan]

04:51 PM on 04/22/2010

The reason our Euro notes are in different sizes is for the blind from what i understand. Also, the different colors and variations in inks are supposed to help in counterfeiting. However, there were a few counterfeit bills with its induction in France but since then nada.

[bernusdellus]

04:26 AM on 04/26/2010

Thanks from New Zealand for knowing we exist.

When our new $$$ first came out, it was interesting but, you know? Its great. You can put them thru the washer AND the dryer and they still come out as spendable money.

No, I don't wash my cash once a week but, every now and then it just happens.

Also, although its probably an illusion, it seems cleaner to handle old bills [old bills being money, not Old Bill's, which would be a disgusting but funny quip].