Congress looks at doing away with the $1 bill and talks of changing metal composition

[Jeffro]

I'm surprised I'm the first one to note that with the Grubbermint spending 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) dollars more than it takes in every year, a 4,400,000,000 (4.4 billion) savings OVER 30 YEARS ain't squat. That's 146 million a year or .15%, about 1/7 of a percent "savings".

Whaddya wanna bet they pat themselves on the back so much with that whopping "savings" that they reward themselves by spending even more?

 

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[50cent]

Homies, this will spell an end to freaking people out when paying with $2 bills and dollar coins. Though, its not half bad of an idea, usually use the dollar coins for any purchase I make under $10.

 

[Generic_Lad]

If we change our money system, we need circulating silver/gold. For example, why not have a bi-metallic $5 or $10 coin with a base-metal outer ring and a silver inner ring (much like the old Mexican 10 new pesos did). Mint it in LARGE quantities, not tiny quantities like Canada has done with their $20 coin, make sure that anyone who wants them can get as many as possible. Also, make sure that the silver content is less than the face value (such as a silver dime's worth of silver in a $5 coin).

This would have several benefits:

1) Would spur investor/collector demand and give the Mint a large profit

2) Increase confidence in holding the dollar because it makes more sense to buy these $5/10 coins which are loss-resistant than to buy pure bullion (the fact you can spend a silver eagle for $1 isn't much of a safeguard unless silver somehow drops to below $1 an ounce... Something that is highly unlikely)

3) Would allow the mint to expand its customer base to those overseas

But of course they'd need to make the coins at least reasonably attractive, something that the US mint seems to be incapable of doing since the 1980s...

I don't think there's been a design that the US mint has put out within the past 20-30 years that has been appealing, the notable exceptions being the Silver/Gold eagles (the platinum eagles are hideous), the congress bicentennial silver dollar of '89, the reverse of the San Fransisco Old Mint commemorative, and the obverses of the first spouse coins that feature Liberty.

Modern US coinage has become sterilized, crippled by uninspiring design, absurd political correctness, and simply terrible coinage quality, both in strike (for business strike coins, proof coinage has become much better within the last 40 some years than before with recently nice cameo coins being the norm, not the exception) and in composition of metal. We've got "golden" dollars that turn black with the slightest hint of circulation, zinc pennies that literally rot away, worthless tokens for quarters, dimes and halves and the last honest coin we have, the nickel, will soon be history.

 

[Wilmingtonsilver]

I carry 10-15 dollar coins with me daily when I leave the house to use. They don't weigh all that much. The only thing that will change for me if the mint can move ahead with this is, the cashiers will stop asking me, "Where do you get these coins?" To which I always reply with a smile, "The bank." If you think about it, how many $1 bills do you typically have in your wallet at a time? I would venture to say less than ten typically. Just like you like to pair down the amount of bills in your wallet by getting rid of ones when you can, you will do the same thing with $1 coins. I know I do.

 

[50cent]

I carry 10-15 dollar coins with me daily when I leave the house to use. They don't weigh all that much. The only thing that will change for me if the mint can move ahead with this is, the cashiers will stop asking me, "Where do you get these coins?" To which I always reply with a smile, "The bank." If you think about it, how many $1 bills do you typically have in your wallet at a time? I would venture to say less than ten typically. Just like you like to pair down the amount of bills in your wallet by getting rid of ones when you can, you will do the same thing with $1 coins. I know I do.

The same, +1.

 

[Diver_Down]

But of course they'd need to make the coins at least reasonably attractive, something that the US mint seems to be incapable of doing since the 1980s...

I don't think there's been a design that the US mint has put out within the past 20-30 years that has been appealing, the notable exceptions being the Silver/Gold eagles (the platinum eagles are hideous), the congress bicentennial silver dollar of '89, the reverse of the San Fransisco Old Mint commemorative, and the obverses of the first spouse coins that feature Liberty.

Modern US coinage has become sterilized, crippled by uninspiring design, absurd political correctness, and simply terrible coinage quality, both in strike (for business strike coins, proof coinage has become much better within the last 40 some years than before with recently nice cameo coins being the norm, not the exception) and in composition of metal. We've got "golden" dollars that turn black with the slightest hint of circulation, zinc pennies that literally rot away, worthless tokens for quarters, dimes and halves and the last honest coin we have, the nickel, will soon be history.

Have you not seen the America The Beautiful series? Some of the Mint's finest work is exhibited in the series.

 

[sagittarius98]

Have you not seen the America The Beautiful series? Some of the Mint's finest work is exhibited in the series.

Those are some cool designs. but nothing compared to the old mint designs.

 

[quiksilver]

We are printing an extra 40 billion a month , so being able to save a little over 4 billion a year seems like throwing a deck chair off the titanic to save weight

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Does not belong in CRH,,,

 

[dejapooh]

The problem with fixing money to a commodity in limited supply is you limit the supply of money with no relation to the value of the goods and services provided. Lets say we do not find a new supply of silver (or gold, or oil, or badger pelts, or any other commodity we are going to base our currency on), but normal increases in production creates 10% new stuff to buy. With more stuff to buy and the same amount of dollars to buy them, you will have deflation (which is much more damaging to the economy than Inflation is). A tightly regulated fiat currency is the basis of the modern economy for a reason. The gold standard (silver or other) Was one of the primary problems that lead to the great depression (deflation without the government having the ability or the will to inflate the currency) and was the one of the primary reasons the depression was so deep and so long lasting.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yeah just think about the cost of converting all the vending machines to accept these coins, new teller trays etc. MILLLLIONSS!

Most vending machines already accept them

 

[Jason in Enid]

We are printing an extra 40 billion a month , so being able to save a little over 4 billion a year seems like throwing a deck chair off the titanic to save weight

The government is hemmoraging from a million tiny cuts, not one giant one. Yes, this would be a small saving in realation to the problem, but we need to make this and many other money saving adjustments. It's like digging clad in the park. Each coin is just a tiny amount, but it adds up to to be enoug for a new detector at the end of a year.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Homies, this will spell an end to freaking people out when paying with $2 bills and dollar coins. Though, its not half bad of an idea, usually use the dollar coins for any purchase I make under $10.

We need to go back to the spending levels of currency we carried a hundred years ago. We used to have cents, which are about equal to today's quarter in value. Then we had $1 silvers, $1 gold, $2.50 gold, $5 - $10 - $20 golds. That would be the equivelant of carrying around modern coins worth $5, $20, $100, $1000, and $2000 .
Yeah it seems odd to think of getting a single coin for our paycheck, but that's how it was from the invention of money up until about 70 years ago.