How can you mess up a billion dollars?

FIRE THE BUMS!

ONE BILLION DOLLARS MESSED UP BECAUSE GOVERNMENT CAN’T EVEN PRINT MONEY RIGHT. WILL COST 99.1 MILLION TO REPRINT.

ABOVE: Well, it looked good on the PowerPoint - the high tech new currency is pushed on a US Treasury website.

More than one billion in $US100 dollar bills are being stockpiled in vaults in Fort Worth, Texas, following a production error that rendered the money worthless.

In April, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve announced a new, high-tech design for the $100 bill featuring Benjamin Franklin - or the "Benjamin" as it is colloquially known.

The new bills were supposed to feature 3D security strip and a colour-shifting image of a bell designed to foil counterfeiters.

Bur US network CNBC learned that the printing process became so complex that it instead foiled printers, who fouled up the new currency - which is now under lock and key.

A source told CNBC that 1.1 billion of the new $100 bills had been printed. That is, $US110 billion worth of paper currency.

Around a third suffered a creasing problem, leading to a blank, unlinked section on the face of the bill.

The question is, which third?

The high tech notes cost US12 cents to produce each, or more than double the usual cost.

For those counting, that means a reprint will cost $US99.4 million.