Dutch Postbank Blue Box USB piggybank
Probably taking their cue from the tobacco and fast-food industries, the post office-based Dutch Postbank is trying to get kids addicted to banking early in life by offering them a free USB-powered "piggybank" to count their allowances and lemonade stand earnings (or whatever it is they peddle out of their makeshift storefronts in the liberal Netherlands). The Blue Box, as it is known, is available to children ages 7 to 11 who open up an Easy Blue account, and agree to let the bank open up a secret credit card upon their first overdraft (oh wait, we're thinking of Wells Fargo right here in the US). Anyway, besides counting up Euros, the Blue Box also rocks a stopwatch, photo album, game device, and limited web browser (limited to one site, it seems). So if you're a parent who really cares about your kids, send 'em off to Amsterdam, where Junior's early exposure to money-lust will give him a better chance of maturing into a Dennis Kozlowski, John Rigas, or similar titan of industry.
