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 Replies: 19 / Views: 3,306 |
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Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
Okay, I don't understand why, over a century ago, they were able to get rid of the Half Cent coin, when it was worth today's dime, or whatever, and they were also able to get rid of 2-cent, 3-cent and 20-cent coins, and later on, $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills. Now, I am guessing that they got rid of the Half Cent, 2-cent, 3-cent and 20-cent coins because they were not needed, and the $500, $1,000 $5,000 and $10,000 bills were discontinued due to lack of use, even though people also claim that it was for a way to combat organized crime as well. So, this being the case, why haven't they gotten rid of the half dollar coin and the $2 bill, and the dollar coin, due to lack of use, and really, not being needed? I mean, I know some government officials have high hopes for the dollar coin to replace the $1 bill, but is that really going to happen? As for the half dollar coin, and $2 bills, at least some self checkouts accept both, and even more machines accept $2 bills than halves, but, in theory, I must admit that, as much as I do not want to, we could do without them. But, if the government wants to save on printing less $1 bills for circulation, why not go for a redesigned polymer $1 bill, print less of them, and more redesigned polymer $2 bills, so that banks would have no choice but to say, "Sorry, I have a limited supply of $1 bills, so I have to hand out some $2 bills as well. Likewise with halves. Mint less quarters, and more halves. Let the halves and $2 bills slowly fill in where they are lacking quarters and $1 bills. But the big question is, WHY didn't people care in the past when the Half Cent, 2-cent, 3-cent, 20-cent coins, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills were discontinued? Why didn't they throw a fit about saying that THESE coin and currency denominations were American icons that should have been kept around? Why can't we get rid of the cent, nickel, quarter, $1 and $2 bills and reissue the 20-cent coin, issue $1, and $2 coins and $200 bills, and reissue the $500, and possibly the $1,000 bills? The bottom line is, I can not understand why people cared less about getting rid of certain denominations in the past, or didn't care at all, and now, Heaven forbid, we try to get rid of, or improve a certain denomination (get rid of the cent, or improve the dollar by going to the coin) people go nuts and strongly oppose the moves?  |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Because efficiency is no longer the point of government.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12816 Posts |
I don't think anyone ever intended for democratic government to be efficient.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
I don't think anyone ever intended for democratic government to be efficient. Ha! I take your point.  Perhaps, then, a less-pervasive attitude of wanting to continually improve the process. The stuff Fox is talking about wouldn't have happened 100 years ago unless some really powerful political player was involved. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
Inefficiently is the cornerstone of a Republic.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3755 Posts |
It has nothing to do with efficiency or lack there of. It has everything to do with corrupt idiots in office cowtowing to their special interest businesses to keep them raking in the bucks.
The half and two dollar bills and dollar coins actually make sense. Axing the penny and one dollar bill make sense. But between the paper manufacturer interest and the general idiocy of the sheeple whining about too much change in their pockets, the morons elected by said sheeple won't do what makes sense.
Edited by smokeriderdon
03/04/2015 6:37 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2815 Posts |
The half dollar is a "product" of the U.S. Mint in these modern times. Yes, they are legal tender, but I just don't think of them the same way I do nickels, dimes, and quarters. However, I will continue to purchase this "product" as long as they make it available.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Not to be mean. What I don't understand is why there seems to be a thread about why we don't need the cent and Dollar bill, when one thread ends another starts. As been posted  I have tried not responding ....but I click on many of the links ...thinking It might be something different ....only to find out it's not. Yes there have been many changes in the past. The Half Cent was minted because Spanish Reales were leagal tender, when our country first started. One Reale was worth 12 1/2 cents, so it was needed to make change. Once the Spanish reale was no longer needed, the Half Cent was no longer need. The 2, 3 and 20 cent ..pretty much the same thing. Once the Indian head cent became extremely popular, citizens choose to use that coin instead of the 2 and 3 cent. The 20 cent had to be like the Susan B Anthony dollar ...citizens did not like it being so close in size to the quarter. It seems like I have read, in the past, that some of these coins were created because of special interest .. Not because they were needed ...or wanted by the citizens. It must be hard to understand that most people in our country are completely happy with the coins we have today, and do not want a change. When our government sees that citizen do not like or need a coin, then they seem to make changes. When the half dollar coin drop to a level of not being used, the stopped making it for circulation. Same with the Presidential small dollars ... not being used ...l stopped making them for circulation. As long as the majority of citizens use the one cent, they will keep using it. Oh and you never mention ... 2 1/2, 5, 10 and 20 dollar coins ... Just because they stopped using gold ... They could have still minted the coins .....  Edited by GR58
03/04/2015 9:07 pm
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
This is tangential to the "usual" topic. Why, exactly, are we ignoring plain economic efficiencies in our coins/currency? Regardless of what you might consider the correct solution, the fact exists that we've reacted before to alter coinage society plainly considered superfluous. There were a few political victories like Morgans, but by and large the minor coinage was pretty much approached from the same engineering standpoint as setting speed limits, i.e. letting natural usage help define the product.
Not any more, and "why?" is an interesting numismatic question taken as an abstract.
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Pillar of the Community
 708 Posts |
Well, there was also a gold $50 coin, I believe, which even though its not, I called it the "Quintuple Eagle"  Edited by Fox
03/04/2015 10:18 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Politics gets in the way of good government.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
To be fair half dollar and dollar coins are only nclt. Once the coin is made it's not going to be melted or be declared not legal tender. I don't exactly understand $2 bills except I know they aren't printed often and there is a demand through presents and maybe tipping :). You could say stop making it but that doesn't make sense since you getting high profits from collectors buying them from the mint.
Things exist until they have no purpose. While cents don't have much buying power anymore, the are used in most cash transactions due to sale taxes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
The 3 cent coin was made to cheaply ship small change out West so people could stop using gold coins the size and weight of a hole punch. Also, political publicity stunt for the lower cost of the stamp.
The 2 cent coin was made to compete with the Civil War era tokens. They also slapped our now-motto on there to drag religion into the war.
The 20 cent coin was a botched experiment to produce a coin to trade 1:1 with the Franc.
Ditto with the $4 so we could trade with the LMU. Also turned out to be the perfect amount of money for a... ah nevermind.
I would say that more than anything, the coins were able to die a natural death because of a general lack of interest among the public. Seignorage wasn't a thing in the 1880s, so there was no reason to continue mintage once demand died down and people stopped asking for proofs.
There are a LOT more collectors now than there were 130 years ago, which is why the half and dollar coins are on perpetual life support with annual mintages in the 2-5 million range.
Edited by Finn235
03/04/2015 11:01 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4409 Posts |
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The 20 cent coin was a botched experiment to produce a coin to trade 1:1 with the Franc. Do you have a source for this? From what I understand the 20 cent coin was lobbied for by western mining interests. The politicians in DC went along with the idea and it became reality. It lasted two years as a circulating coin due to the similarity to the more established quarter. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1208 Posts |
Here we go again... another "I hate this denomination" poster wasting bandwidth. We need a sub-forum for these posts, so real numismatists can have discussions without divisive political threads. Edited by ratio411
03/05/2015 12:51 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Possibly one reason they could eliminate the unneeded coins back then and not now may have to do with the slow speed on information transfer. A bill would be introduced to eliminate a coin. The Congressmen didn't wait to get opinions from their constituents because it could take months to get replies back. They debated and made the decision and then the people would find out about it later.
Today with radio, TV, and the internet a submitted bill is analyzed and discussed around the country in hours. Opinions start flooding into the Congressmen's offices immediately. How they debated and they their positions are clearly known. If the people don't like what they did he might not get reelected. So today they go to great lengths NOT to do anything that people might object to unless they absolutely have to. No unnecessary controversial decisions that they can avoid. And we won't even discuss the graft possibilities from "interested parties".
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Replies: 19 / Views: 3,306 |
Posted 03/04/2015 6:17 pm
