A Black Day For the Greenback

A double dose of bad news today for all you fans of U.S. currency.

WSJ's Washington Wire reports on the "digital unveiling" of the new $5 bill, a hideous thing that will go into circulation in early 2008.  Okay, maybe not *hideous*, but that big purple 5 is just monstrous.  Someone must've been fired over that one.  Still, the Treasury Department insists it's a feature.

The large, easy-to-read number “5” in the lower right corner on the back of the bill, which helps those with visual impairments distinguish the denomination, is now enlarged in the new $5 bill design and printed in high-contrast purple ink.

Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail of Toronto reports that for a brief time this morning, the Canadian dollar was more valuable than a real dollar.  So start hoarding those Canadian quarters you've been angrily throwing into drawers and trying to scam vending machines with your whole life.  They're less worthless than they used to be.