Fort Worth is home to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing Western Currency Facility. This is where half of all the paper money in the USA is made (the other half is made in Washington DC) and, like everywhere else, it's a tourist attraction.
Except that it's a very secure tourist attraction. No phones, cameras, or other electronic paraphenalia are allowed inside, something they check with airport-style security. They tell you a bit, but not exactly everything (like how they ship it out of the facility), about how money is printed. A lot of the viewing areas were blacked out while they're designing the the new $100 bill.
The tour was made more interesting by the two MBA students (Hannah and Christine) who began asking questions about seigniorage, hyperinflation, and money supply. All this education is making them so clever! More worrying was the gift shop selling four $1 bills for $15. This and the fact that the facility working 24 hours a day is able, in one year, to print only a third of the amout of the AIG bailout. I'm sticking to British pounds.
As close as they let you get with cameras. Is that the vault I can see...?
Vince is happy with his newly minted currency.
Mine seems to be defective - where's the Queen's head?
P.S. If you look at a US banknote and, on the side with the portrait on, over on the right a third of the way up it has a tiny FW then your note was printed here! If not, it came from DC. Cool, eh?
