Just give up, guys...
Those crazy guys at the U. S. Mint are at it again. They announced Monday that starting in 2007, they are going to release more $1 coins, this time with the faces of presidents on them. They hope that the presidents will be able to do what women couldn't: get people to actually spend them.Starting with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison in 2007, they plan on releasing a series that will eventually have all the presidents on them. Van Buren will be released in 08 and Fillmore in 10. One of the reasons they hope these will be more succesful than previous coins is that they think people will collect them. I've only taken a basic Econ class in college and even I can spot the flaws in that. If people collect them, they won't be spending them. They might get out into the populice fairly quickly (especially if they do what they've done previously and give them to Wal-Mart), but if people hoard them, that's where it stops. They're passed around like a hot potato that no ones wants. It's a general principle of Econ: savings = leakage.
But other than that, I really don't think they'll take off. People like what they're used to. One of the things brought up in the article I read is that they'll have to either get rid of the dollar bill or just mass produce so many coins people are forced to use them. I don't think many people will go for getting rid of the bill. I think one of the things the governments not looking at is how much more convienient it is to carry aronud bills than change. I hate change, and whenever I get it I put it in a jar in my car. I then use it at drive throughs and such, and when it fills up I take it to a CoinStar machiene and normally get about $20 off it. Bills you can just fold up and put in a wallet, change makes noise and weighs more and takes up more space. Just forget it, U. S. Mint. I for one will not be swayed. Bills only!
Article here.
For those of you who read the old school Encyclopedia Brown books, you might want to check out the new, updated version: Wikipedia Brown.
Labels: Current Events, Politics, Things of Interest
posted by Jeremy @ 8:38 PM
2 Comments:
Actually this is a HUGE money-maker for the US Mint. While they do want to encourage spending with coins, they also hope that collectors will hoard the new coins. When a coin's sitting in a collection somewhere, that's $1 off the street and into the pocket of the government. The mint made a "mint" off the state quarters program since so many people took them out of circulation and put them into a private collection.
As for getting Americans to use coins... the US needs to think their denomination amounts. When I spent two months in Australia I preferred their coin system. They had a $2 and a $5 coin. I loved using them. A $1 coin in America is too low a denomination in my opinion to use.
Yes, I think the U.S. mint should quit. We don't even know what valid coins look like anymore, and that could be a problem.
Wow... Wikipedia Brown was hilarious. Yeah, I did read Encyclopedia Brown books.
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