Posted on 03/31/2017 8:19:18 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Advocates of abolishing the $1 Federal Reserve note are at it again, this time hoping that President Donald Trump and conservative Republicans will finally side with their three-pronged approach to revamping the nation’s currency system.
Under S. 759, introduced March 29 by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the government would end production of the $1 Federal Reserve note, revise the composition of the 5-cent coin, and suspend production of 1-cent coins.
While the draft legislation calls for an end to paper dollar notes and the cent, it is silent on dollar coin production.
Backers of the legislation said they believe that the existing stocks of circulation-quality dollar coins stored in Federal Reserve Banks around the nation will be more than adequate to meet demand.
They also cite the success of Canada and other nations as proof that the public will accept the dollar coins once the paper dollar is eliminated.
S. 759 was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Groups have pushed the end of the paper dollar for decades, but every time they have been quashed by a coalition of printing unions and the Crane & Co., a Massachusetts firm that has had a lock on supplying the specially blended paper used in printing Federal Reserve notes. Crane has supplied the paper for U.S. paper currency continually since 1878. Its cotton-based paper is “the most durable banknote paper in the world, achieving the longest life span of any paper currency,” the firm’s website states.
Although Crane has long opposed elimination of the $1 note, when the Dollar Coin Alliance, the organization leading the proposed changes, launched its new effort on March 29, it issued only a brief reference through former Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., to “special interests” in the paper industry and to “sheer inertia” on Capitol Hill for killing his repeated efforts to end the paper dollar.
Without that change, Kolbe said, there is no question that a dollar coin cannot succeed.
Kolbe and another former congressman, Tim Penny, D-Minn., are co-chairmen of the Dollar Coin Alliance.
What has given the Dollar Coin Alliance hope, said the group’s executive director Shawn Smeallie, is that the new president and lawmakers will support and act upon the premise that abolishing the paper dollar can produce $16 billion in savings.
“The administration, I think, is a little more receptive to this argument,” he told Coin World.
“Can you imagine Donald Trump seeing that pennies cost more than they are worth?” said Smeallie, a former aide to President George W. Bush.
“Why are we doing this?” Smeallie said Trump would ask.
Smeallie said he also believes that the new Congress is filled with conservatives who want to devise ways for the federal government to cut its costs.
The use of coins instead of paper dollars will yield big savings, his group argued at their Capital Hill press briefing.
One new point they will raise is a Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies online poll of 1,001 registered voters.
That poll showed voters favored replacing the $1 bill with a $1 coin “when informed of the estimated savings for the government and taxpayers.”
When told the savings over 30 years could be $4.4 billion, “fully 70% of voters say they favor replacing the $1 bill, ...” a release from Hart Research said.
“Only 30 percent oppose it,” the release said.
Currency reform legislation
The Dollar Coin Alliance distributed fact sheets on S. 759 and said similar legislation will soon be introduced in the House.
The Senate bill is expected to call for suspending production of 1-cent coins, saying that a “sufficient” number of cents are stored in jars.
Taxpayers would saved the production costs, but the U.S. Mint would be authorized to “meet demands of numismatic collectors” wanting cents.
In addition, the comptroller general would be directed by the legislation to study the impact of the suspension of cent production.
For 5-cent coins, the Mint would be directed to study a copper-nickel composition equal to 80 percent copper and 20 percent nickel. The current alloy is a homogenous mix of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel.
The new composition could remain in effect as long as it cuts costs to taxpayers, can be accepted by coin machines and has no impact on public or stakeholders.
The bill would also allow the Mint director to submit plans to increase the percentage of copper and decrease the amount of nickel in the coin after presenting the plan to Congress.
The bill would not allow the Federal Reserve to issue any more $1 Federal Reserve notes two years after the law is enacted. However, it would allow “some $1 bills” to be made and sold as collectibles.
The Dollar Coin Alliance describes itself as “composed of small businesses, mass transit agencies, watchdogs, trade associations and private companies.”
When asked who the companies are, Smeallie told Coin World, “They are copper related.”
Among the members of the alliance are the Arizona Mining Association, Copper and Brass Fabricators Council, and Copper Development Association.
The ties between copper interests and the dollar coin movement are noted in stories about Kolbe’s efforts to seek an end to the paper dollar in the 1990s.
They want to eventually make all transactions electronic. That facilitates tracking and taxation. I don’t trust anything McCain is involved in.
Dollar bills are extremely filthy! They are bacteria factories, The metal coins are naturally anti-bacterial, Much safer health-wise. Just imagine where the hands that have held those bills have been!
Finding a penny on the ground is like someone paying me a small amount to exercise a small amount.
All of this fretting over physical cash. Soon, the government will be giving everyone credits and you WILL use a debit card to access them. Gonna happen sooner than you think.
This is another push for a cashless society.
They need to make the coin thicker and change the alloy to something similar to a UK Pound. The problem then is, we'd have to modify every ticket machine in every subway and light rail station in the country. Not to mention the dollar slots - Sacagawea could turn out to be the financial ruin of many reservation casinos. :o)
Interesting; if you see the old Chinese coins (pre-1911), they have a square hole in the middle. People would pass a cord through them and tie it to their belt.
I have some of these, and a set of knock-offs that cost $1 (for twelve). Like many Red Chinese knock-offs, they have misspellings on the wrapper. I was told that one I have with a triangular hole is actually really old and rare...
Ukraine has bills down to a 1, which at 27 per $4 is worth about 4 cents. Almost no one uses coins except food stores, with the smallest coin normally .10 UAH. Once I did get .02 UAH and picked up a .01 off the street. That's worth 4/100 of a US penny. In conclusion, Ukraine coins are an annoyance that should be completely phased out.
In Poland, the coins are nice and have value With an exchange rate of about 4 złoty per $, the smallest bill is 10zł. That's about $2.50. The 5zł ($1.25) and 2zł ($.63) are nice, substantial, and thick with 2 colors. The other coins are thinner, one color, and smaller. It's a very sensible approach and people use coins regularly for small transactions. This would be a good model for the USA.
“They also cite the success of Canada and other nations as proof that the public will accept the dollar coins once the paper dollar is eliminated.”
“Ummm...they didn’t have a choice”
Beat me to it, how true.
Reasonable. However McCain is involved. Some how, this must be involved in releasing a demon from hell or something equally sinister. /s
Put a hole in the middle of the dollar coin so it can be strung together like a pukka necklace.
Or better yet, let’s just use dollar coins from other nations and save on production costs altogether! After all, it’s not like it has any intrinsic value, the denomination just represents...
While they’re at it, there is really no need for both a nickel and a dime. And when is the last time anyone purchased anything for less than a dime? I think the nickel actually needs to go as well.
Wouldn’t even really hurt to swap the $5 bill for a coin. Put all those in together and I imagine the savings would be worth it.
Color and edge aren’t enough. They need to otherwise change the size and/or shape as well.
This failed in the US because they never got rid of the paper dollars; if you’ve been to Canada you quickly end up with a pocketful of C$1 and C$2 coins, and they’re not small. A complete pain in the rear...and they’ve now eliminated their penny.
As I understand it, the new gold-colored dollar coins were made the same size/weight as the Susan B. Anthony dollars (”Carter quarters”) so machines would accept either of them.
See # 48; that is what Imperial China had.
“exotic dancers hardest hit”
Buskers and panhandlers anticipate revenue increase as passerby’s indiscriminately grab for tossable “brass in pocket.”
A while back I was in Seattle and faced with traveling from the train station to the air port. There was a light rail line for the trip
The fare machine requires $1 coins. I had a $20. I got more than a pocketful and the food clerks in Atlanta didn’t think the $1 coins were real.
1) Get f***ing politicians off the coins, and 2) Expose the fraud of the catastrophic decline in the value of the fractional parts of the dollar.
In 1908, the coins had:
Penny: Native American
Nickel: Liberty
Dime: Liberty
Quarter: Liberty
Half Dollar: Liberty
Dollar: Liberty
$2.50: Native American
$5.00: Native American
$10.00: Native American
$20.00 Liberty
The value of the silver coinage in today's money can be easily derived by a multiplier of 13.14, so the dime would be worth $1.31, the quarter $3.29 and so on.
Our coinage at present has only 4 circulating pieces unlike the ten that existed in 1908, and all feature politicians instead of symbols of our history or principles.
And, by reversing the calculation above, we see that the penny is now worth 7/100 of a 1908 penny, a quarter is worth less than two cents in 1908 money, and so on.
So, an honest recoinage would start with a ten cent coin to replace the penny, a half dollar to replace the nickel, a dollar coin to replace the dime, a $2.50 coin to replace the quarter, and a $10 coin to replace the dollar bill.
Many women carry the equivalent of thousands of dollars in their bras.
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