Well, it's here.

Not only the Euro, but this page! The Euro officially arrived on Friday, January 1, 11999, though it is still only a unit of account. This page has been longer in coming though; I have neglected it, and I'm sorry. Here, finally, is a pretty good (I think) Euro information page.

units/euro      CURRENCY         euros/unit
-------------------------------------------
13.7603     Austrian Schilling  0.072672834
40.3399     Belgian Franc       0.034789352
2.20371     Dutch Guilder       0.453780216
5.94573     Finnish Markka      0.168187926
6.55957     French Franc        0.152449017
1.95583     German Mark         0.511291881
0.78564     Irish Punt          1.272847615
1936.27     Italian Lira        0.000516457
40.3397     Luxembourg Franc    0.024789475
200.482     Portugese Escudo    0.004987979
166.386     Spanish Peseta      0.006010121
-------------------------------------------

CURRENCY         Largest Note   Eurovalue
-----------------------------------------
German Mark          1,000         511.29
Dutch Guilder        1,000         453.78
Austrian Schilling   5,000         363.34
Italian Lira       500,000         258.23
Belgian Franc       10,000         247.89
Finnish Markka       1,000         168.19
Irish Punt             100         127.28
Luxembourg Franc     5,000         123.95
French Franc           500          76.22
Portugese Escudo    10,000          49.88
Spanish Peseta       1,000           6.01
-----------------------------------------

That last is no typo: yes, the largest paper note in Spain is just slightly larger than the $5 bill. As you can see from the rest, people in nearly all the member countries will benefit from Euro-ization. Even the Germans are not losing much, since their largest bill is only 11 euros bigger than the e500 note anyway. It really makes the U.S., with its largest bill the $100.00 seem small-minded, doesn't it?

But then, we must remember that the only people who carry large amounts of cash are criminals, right? That must be why some people in the U.S. want the e500 note eliminated. It couldn't be that they just want to prevent the common folks from making large cash transactions - no, that could never happen in the Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave ...

More likely they are simply worried that the FedGov's crazy, money-printing joyride will be over once the euro becomes crime's newest cash of choice. After all, when people sock away U.S. cash - or just keep it out of the banks for use in illegal trade - It's as if the Federal Reserve Banks managed to create money, spend it and then have it disappear so it doesn't contribute to inflation. Indeed, that's exactly what happens with seigniorage.

Personally, I don't think they have anything to worry about. If the demand for big bills was so great, the dopelords would have turned to German Marks a long time ago. They want DOLLARS, period, because most of their product is sold in America.

Banque Internationale a Luxembourg has a lot of info about the euro, and it's as good a place to start as any.

Wonder what the new euros will look like? ECU Activities has the best - that is, biggest - graphic collection I've seen so far: every note is presented much larger than life, and in great detail. Heck, you could copy these pics, reduce them and print your own euros right now! If you knew how big to make them, that is.

Ulster Bank used to have the second-best euro-pics that I've seen on the net, and had courteously provided all the dimensional information for the notes and coins. For some reason, however, those pages have now vanished. Until I can find something similar, here are the dimensions of the notes, at least:

-----------------
  e5 = 62 x 120mm
 e10 = 67 x 127mm
 e20 = 72 x 133mm
 e50 = 77 x 140mm
e100 = 82 x 147mm
e200 = 82 x 153mm
e500 = 82 x 160mm
-----------------

Now go buy some crinkly 100%-cotton paper and fire up the laser printer. Nothing can stop you - you're gonna be rich!! (BTW don't forget the serial numbers.)

If you need a place to keep'em there's always the Euro Cash Drawer.

What's really interesting here is that Ireland will be converting to the Euro, but Britain will not. The Irish punt is now very nearly identical in value to the pound, but the Euro will not be. The Irish Government has their Changeover Plan all laid out, which is echoed by the European Central Bank.

What I wonder, though, is who will print the euro notes?.

Speaking of printing, here's some news: paper euro notes are already in circulation. And here you thought you'd have to wait until 12002! Actually, with AmEx you might have to wait: despite the hullabaloo, I couldn't find euro-checks (or "cheques") anywhere on their site. Where I did find them was with Thomas Cook in Britain.

If the British ever joins the EMU they'll likely want their Queen on all UK-printed notes. Too bad the European Central Bank has said, "Off with her head!". This has made the Campaign For An Independent Britain quite cross indeed, and they have urged Parliament to stay out of Euroland permanently. Apparently they are unaware that the Bank Of England is already in it.

Here's some more upbeat, boosty stuff on Britain and the euro.