Down With Dollar Coins
Here’s a guy who is against the new dollar coins 100%. I happen to disagree, but he makes some interesting arguments.
When special interests and government bureaucrats get together, it is the taxpayer who gets no respect in the morning.
Take the dollar coin. A gaggle of interests wants to replace the paper dollar with a dollar coin. It is something that no one wants but them.
Vending machine companies have lobbied for it. Metal producers stand to benefit from coin production. And then there’s the U.S. Mint itself, which makes coins, whose very existence may be threatened now that it costs more than a cent to make a penny and more than five cents to make a nickel. A dollar coin would justify its existence.
The only problem? Virtually every one likes the dollar bill and every attempt to replace it with a coin has failed since 1865. The latest failure: The U.S. Mint spent over $67 million on aggressively promoting the Sacagawea dollar coin between 1998 and 2001. How many are in your pocket right now?
The greenback’s staying power is evident, and it’s easy to see why. Coins are bulky and heavy. They end up in coffee cans or between sofa cushions. And they’re just a nuisance to carry around.