$1 coin or $1 bill ?

[Xyooj96]

came across this topic, very interesting from both sides. what's your take?


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-10-24/dollar-enters-deficit-debate/50898164/1

WASHINGTON – A proposal to phase out the $1 bill and replace it with a $1 coin could be gaining currency as the "supercommittee" looks to find ways to save the government money.

Lobbying interests on both sides are ramping up their efforts in the expectation that Congress could decide the issue after more than 25 years of debate. Mining interests, vending companies and mass transit agencies support the coin. Paper and ink producers and some small retailers oppose it.

"You have this gigantic deficit. You have this supercommittee, and Congress is looking for savings anywhere they can," says former representative Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., a longtime coin advocate.

The move to a coin would cost money in the short term, but eventually save money because paper currency lasts about 42 months — while coins theoretically last forever. Moving to a coin could save $5.6 billion over 30 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

"You're not going to find that kind of savings that involves no tax increase and no cut to anybody's program," Kolbe says.

The 12-member Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, created under the debt-limit deal in August, has held few public hearings. Its members are tight-lipped about what proposals are on the table, even as they approach a Nov. 23 deadline. But the savings from a $1 coin are miniscule compared to the committee's $1.5 trillion goal.

When Kolbe first started introducing $1 coin proposals in Congress in 1986, it was a way to help Arizona mining interests, he admits. Those proposals never got out of committee. Now, with most other Western economies replacing their lowest paper bill with coins, the time is right to modernize the currency system, he says.

Kolbe is honorary chairman of the Dollar Coin Alliance. The group has enough momentum that just this month supporters of the paper dollar formed a rival group, Americans for George. They're worried a $1 coin provision could sneak into the supercommittee's proposals.

"We've never been through a situation with the supercommittee before. It was always an issue that was looked at on its face as an individual issue," says Tom Ferguson of Americans for George, the former head of the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.

"A nation's currency is more than just paper. It is iconic. It is emblematic. It signifies the economy," he says.

The armored car industry also opposes the coin. "It's primarily based on weight," says Larry Sabbath, of the National Armored Car Association. "If you think of all our trucks carrying around that weight, that's obviously higher fuel costs for us, and more breakdown of trucks."

There's at least one supercommittee member on each side: Co-chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., is a sponsor of the $1 coin proposal. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a committee member, has introduced a competing bill to stop production of the dollar coin. Paper for U.S. currency is made by Crane & Co. of a Massachusetts.

Hensarling would eliminate the Susan B. Anthony $1 coin, whose size and color is often mistaken for the quarter, and gets rid of the $1 bill in four years — or earlier if $600 million in $1 coins are circulating.

That's important because just minting the coins is no guarantee people will use them. About $1.1 billion in $1 coins sit unused in vaults, the GAO says.

[YAX]

I don't get it...

The move to a coin would cost money in the short term, but eventually save money because paper currency lasts about 42 months — while coins theoretically last forever. Moving to a coin could save $5.6 billion over 30 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Wouldn't you want that since when someone destroys the dollar bill, you don't have to honor it thus saving you a dollar?

[Reporter]

I'm going to save a lot of the current $1.00  paper bills. Years from now, they will be antiques--very well-cherished and expensive then. I'll sell them then.

[tetrapod]

Must be an article from the Onions?

[MSV]

Americans don't really use coins. We collect them, take them to the bank to get the amount converted to dollar bills we can spend and then it's back to collecting coins.

Although it would show a huge savings after 30 yrs, I doubt it'd be the wisest choice. Just look what was said... 1.1 billion one dollar coins sit in vaults unused. Why waste money on something that will just get stored away?

Have you guys seen "MAD MONEY"...this topic made me think about that movie. Check it out if you haven't.

[Reporter]

Americans don't really use coins. We collect them, take them to the bank to get the amount converted to dollar bills we can spend and then it's back to collecting coins.

Although it would show a huge savings after 30 yrs, I doubt it'd be the wisest choice. Just look what was said... 1.1 billion one dollar coins sit in vaults unused. Why waste money on something that will just get stored away?

Have you guys seen "MAD MONEY"...this topic made me think about that movie. Check it out if you haven't.

I saw an antique $1.00 coin the other day. A guy was selling a lot of them. But he was selling them for $8.00 each.

I wanted to buy them but then I though to myself, "Why would I pay $8.00 for something that's worth just $1.00?" And I didn't buy any of them.

[YAX]

I saw an antique $1.00 coin the other day. A guy was selling a lot of them. But he was selling them for $8.00 each.

I wanted to buy them but then I though to myself, "Why would I pay $8.00 for something that's worth just $1.00?" And I didn't buy any of them.

  It was stupid of him to save them that long then because if you account for inflation and time value of money, he's losing if he sells them for 8 bucks a piece only.   

[Reporter]

  It was stupid of him to save them that long then because if you account for inflation and time value of money, he's losing if he sells them for 8 bucks a piece only.   

You are right. Bad investment he's got there.

If I had bought one for $8.00, imagine what he would have said about me...lol...

[AF-Wife]

$1 bill is easier to carry but than over here we carry around coins that are worth 2 euros

[nightrider]

If they're so concern about saving $'s here and there. Why not just get rid off the currency system and go digital? This f'en world is a mess. You literally don't own anything, everything you work for can be taken away from you.

[Xyooj96]

I don't get it...

Wouldn't you want that since when someone destroys the dollar bill, you don't have to honor it thus saving you a dollar?

 

aren't they talking about saving on cost of not having to print another $1 bill?

[Xyooj96]

Must be an article from the Onions?

 

you didn't read it !!

[Xyooj96]

If they're so concern about saving $'s here and there. Why not just get rid off the currency system and go digital? This f'en world is a mess. You literally don't own anything, everything you work for can be taken away from you.

collect gold would be wiser, as the country's money is base on gold. 

[YAX]

 

aren't they talking about saving on cost of not having to print another $1 bill?

  Explain what you mean please. 

[nightrider]

collect gold would be wiser, as the country's money is base on gold. 

No, everything is based on supply and demand. Gold is only a gauge that the world use. It's just a bad time to buy gold. It makes sense in the long run if the $ will continue to decline but if it stays the way it is and other countries continue to prosper, it will only drive up the cost. And middle class people can not afford to invest in gold. Besides that, how can anyone be sure that what they pay for is 99.999 % gold?