And it isn't just Tide that is increasingly being used as a medium of exchange - dollar bills are too. Yep, it seems hard currency is making a comeback, wrong-footing everyone who was predicting a move towards a cashless society, including the American central bank - the Federal Reserve. Remember how we were told the rise of debit and credit cards would mean that pretty soon none of us would be using bank notes to pay for things? Cash, it was said, was gonna become a thing of the past. But it turns out the demand for US dollar bills is at a record high. In fact, it's been rising since the collapse of Lehman Brothers back in 2008. But here's the mystery. It seems we are increasingly using cards and electronic payments to buy things. So where is all that cash going? The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco John Williams explained to me what's happening.
"Over the last five years or so, we've seen the amount of US currency in circulation go up by over 40%. And what we've discovered is a lot of people are holding onto a lot of currency, especially in the form of $100 bills, both in the United States and especially abroad since the beginning of the financial crisis."
