What are your thoughts on the US Mint trying to issue gold coins to replace dollar bills? I recently saw a new commercial financed by the US Mint for that very concept. The commercial is another example of the government wasting money as far I saw it. I could not find it on YouTube if you can believe that? Anyway the Statue of Liberty leaves her perch and walks through the city to Central Park to buy one hot dog with a couple of gold dollar coins! Wow it sounds even worse when I actually write it out.
Anyway the the talking points of the commercial are that if the public starts using these gold coins collectively it will save the government billions of dollars because they are recyclable and the coins have a much longer life span than dollar bills. No that I get, the message if you are paying attention to what the commercial is actually saying does make a lot of sense. Both environmentally and financially going to monetary system based on coins is a great theory.
The only real problem with the move to a coin based monetary system is that the general public like cash. I have to agree too, not really a big fan of carrying change in my pocket and the thought of replacing all the dollars bills that sit in my wallet with coins is really not all that appealing. What do you think, how would you like to carry dollars coins around instead of dollar bills? Doesn’t sound to appealing does it?
The only way that this would really work is if the government stepped in and forced a move to a coin based monetary system. Start removing the dollar bills and instead of reprinting new ones just start issuing the coins in their place. Now would the general public really go for this or would every congress person and senator start hearing from all the people they represent? I just don’t think the idea of coins over cash will ever take off and they should stop wasting money on ridiculous commercials, how about you? Has anyone else out there seen this commercial?
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5 Comments
Canada has $1 & $2 coins and it works for them. I’m not sure the U.S. coins would be gold though. I think a $1 gold coin would have to be so small it would get lost in my pocket.
Dennis @ Eugene Real Estates last blog post..Oregon Pushing for a Green Environment
@Dennis @ Eugene Real Estate -
Hey Dennis…..
Does that mean that Canada does not have $1 or $2 dollar bills and they just do the coins or do they have both?
Hey JeepnDave, they do not have cash, just coin for $1 & $2. They are commonly called Loonie’s ($1) and Toonie’s ($2), I’m not kidding
. Here is a link to the Toonie; http://tinyurl.com/33mpds
@Dennis @ Eugene Real Estate -
Thanks for the Canadian education today Dennis! i loved the reference to the Looney Tunes….
“Another angle to the name pairs the word Toonie up with the Loonie to complete the reference to “loonie toonie” or the famous and popular Looney Tunes cartoons; an indirect jibe at Canadian politicians who introduced the coins replacing the paper currency equivalents.”
We traveled there a couple months ago for a conference. I have some great friends north of the border, so I mean no disrespect, but coming from the U.S. and not aware of the Loonies and Toonies it was quite comical.
That is other than all those coins in the pocket by the end of the day. You learn to spend the coin FIRST if possible.
So if we went to coin rather than bills for $1 it may change your habits, or your pants will be riding a little lower.
Dennis @ Eugene Real Estates last blog post..Oregon Pushing for a Green Environment
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