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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,717 |
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Valued Member
United States
447 Posts |
Found this article tonight.
Call for change: Lawmakers push bill to switch to $1 coin
Published March 22, 2012
| FoxNews.com
Capitol Hill lawmakers want to change the color of money amid growing concerns about the federal deficit and the constant pressure for Washington to live within its means.
The House and Senate each have introduced legislation that would replace the dollar bill with a $1 coin.
"Change can be difficult," Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said. "But doing things as we've always done has contributed to our debt. We've got to latch on to any reasonable handhold we can find to climb out of this hole."
This is not the first time Washington has considered eliminating the paper dollar, which became part of the U.S. currency during the Lincoln administration in the early 1860s.
The Government Accountability Office has examined the issue five times over the past two decades as a way to help reduce government spending, each time concluding the switch would save from roughly $200 million to $500 million, said Enzi.
The money would be saved in part because the coins stay in circulation longer.
He is joined by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and John McCain, R-Ariz., in support of the Currency Optimization, Innovation and National Savings (COINS) Act.
The companion bill was introduced in September by the Republican-controlled House, but a hearing has yet to be scheduled, a House Financial Services Committee staffer said Thursday.
The effort on Capitol Hill continues despite Americans' preference -- or at least sentiment -- for the paper dollar.
A survey this year of voters across the country found roughly 70 percent of them oppose the change. The survey, by Lincoln Park Strategies, a Democratic-leaning public opinion research firm, asked voters in 12 states.
Beyond the debate in Congress or in supermarket lines, the bigger fight appears to be between the Dollar Coin alliance, a collective that includes small businesses and transit agencies, and Massachusetts-based Crane & Co., a company that supplies the cotton-fiber paper for the bills.
Crane has reportedly hired a team of lobbyists and is part of Americans for George, which has papered a Metrorail hub with pro-greenback advertisements.
The coalition in part argues the GAO report shows the dollar coin would cost the government money in the first four years and would not break even for at least the next 10 years.
Dollar Coin has the leadership of former Rep. Jim Kolbe, from Arizona, a large mineral-mining state.
"In a time of record budget deficits, this type of common sense change is a no-brainer," he said
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Again?..... Who would of thought of that?  Those guys' grasp upon the obvious is remarkable. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
To save money they should simply cut their salaries in half. Still would be way more than most of us.
The money and time spent on this subject by them would also be better used to help people by cutting their taxes.
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
Go Team Coin!  Die, One Dollar Note, DIE!  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
What they are going to need are $10 and $20 coins.... Then $50 coins...... Then $100 coins...... And whom knows what will be required past 2016......  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
The only problem I see is that once the $1 note is stopped printing, the $2 note will step in and take its place and we'll be back to square one (or should I say two, as in the $2 note will be printed in the hundreds of millions then) again.
The politicians have no clue to see the short future on what will happen. But I do like cutting their salary, since none of them can do anything close as to what they are getting paid.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Quote:
The politicians have no clue to see the short future on what will happen. But I do like cutting their salary, since none of them can do anything close as to what they are getting paid. Really, we gotta direct our focus at HR. I mean, who keeps hiring these bozos over and over? |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
The only problem I see is that once the $1 note is stopped printing, the $2 note will step in and take its place and we'll be back to square one (or should I say two, as in the $2 note will be printed in the hundreds of millions then) again. A two dollar coin would fix that problem. I seem to recall that it happened somewhere else in the world.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
Quote:
Really, we gotta direct our focus at HR. I mean, who keeps hiring these bozos over and over? It isn't who is hiring them, but what our choices are. We don't have any good choices, so it is the lesser of two evils, year over year again. |
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
We wouldn't keep getting bozos as choices if people stopped voting for them. It seems people just accept the red or blue choice and disregard anything else. We're our own worst enemy. And to stay on topic I'm going to say the word coins. I like coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Quote:
It isn't who is hiring them, but what our choices are. We don't have any good choices, so it is the lesser of two evils, year over year again. If only there were some system by which we could determine who the candidates will be... Perhaps if there were some sort of "primary" election before the regular election, we could choose between candidates with a diverse range of views on various policies. The candidates could be recruited by like-minded groups of people who are interested in advancing certain policy goals, such as promoting the dollar coin. It sure sounds like a more flexible system than our current one, where the candidates for the major parties are selected in secret rooms by robots from outer space. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Just gentle nudge here... Let's focus on the coins, not the politics.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Here's a thought; Close the government accountability office. If anything in Washington has failed utterly then this is it. There is no accountability whatsoever. In fact if you want accountability find the clown who thought up having an accountability office and fire him.
I wonder how money has been wasted studying the obvious. We spend millions of dollars in government to save nickels and won't spend a nickel to save billions.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
Here's a thought; Close the government accountability office. There is no Government Accountability Office It's a thought though, START ONE!. That's what we need a government office that holds the elected officials accountable. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
The name General Accounting Office was changed to Government Accountability Office in 2004 by the GAO Human Capital Reform Act.
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Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
I think it's long over due, let's make it light though like aluminum?
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,717 |
Posted 03/27/2012 08:38 am
