Keeping it real - fake

Isn't it amazing that industry could consider embedding RFID tags in almost every consumer product from cars to breakfast cereal and yet we the consumer still have to endure fake money? My girlfriend just got stung with a fake $100 bill when selling some spare sports tickets for our local charity (no, that's not my beer fund!). Later on it was pretty obvious it was fake, but really it shouldn't be an issue - person to person cash exchanges should be safe, reliable and guaranteed. Instead any old joker (well scumbag actually) with a laser printer, some paper and a little bit of know how to knock up a fake bill that will pass at a pinch and hence every day I'm sure millions of dollars of fake currency change hands and almost no one goes to jail for it.

Like speeding, credit card fraud and energy wastage it's one thing that technology could put and end to virtually overnight if people just put their minds to it. So why is it nothing gets done? I think ultimately in the case of digitally identifiable money, someone in the government made up their mind that it is in their best interests to maintain an anonymous currency - the last thing the CIA and others want is an easily traceable greenback that can leave a digital trail for funding of nefarious activities that might lead all the way back to the very top, even right to the White House.