Why does paper money have red and blue squiggly lines in it?
Answer:
As others have said they make counterfeiting harder...
The paper (and it isn't even really paper) used to make our money comes from a Massachusetts company called Crane (you can buy regular stationary from them, though not the same stuff used for money obviously). When they make it, using a lot of cotton (which is why it feels more like cloth than paper), they also add in little blue and red fibers, tiny little strings basically, that when mixed all up and squeezed into paper give you those lines.
The History channel and others have done some great little pieces on the U.S. Mint and counterfeiting and stuff. Should probably be able to find a clip or two on youtube. Go check it out, it's really cool!
It's just one of a number of anti-counterfeiting efforts. It's darn hard to find paper with those little blue and red threads - that's what they are, little bits of colored thread woven into the fabric that the bill is printed on. If you look, you'll find 'em on all denominations of paper currency - U.S. currency, at least...
To make it harder for people to counterfeit.
All the intricate designs are very hard to copy, and money today has watermarks and even stamps only visible under UV light to stop it from being faked.
It makes counterfeiting more difficult.
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