Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Phase out the dollar bill

Call your congressman and say you want the dollar bill phased out!
In this time of economic trouble, we need to look to the government to spend money where it is needed and chop it off where it isn't. We don't NEED one dollar bills, we just like them and we are creatures of habit. We could save 7 Billion dollars over the first ten years if we phased out dollar bills and then save even more the next ten years since the coins lasts for decades and the minting of dollar coins would slow to a crawl, kind of a maintenance level, eventually. We could likely save close to $12 billion dollars the second decade alone. I know people get jaded when they hear the debt is in trillions and here I am talking about Billions, but you start cutting 12 Billion Dollars here and there, and pretty soon you get a government in DC that can figure its way out of this morass.
Check out this BBC story for more info

Call your congressman and say you want the dollar bill phased out! The 1$ Coin Act of 1997 was a good start, but now we need DC to go all the way and phase it out. I know from travel in Canada, Mexico and the EU, they dont even print a $5 bill either.  If we assume similar rates of return VS the $1 phaseout, we could save ~$36 Billion dollars over the first 20 years by switching the $1 and $5 bills to coinage.

Personally I use my debit card for everything and don't carry cash money, but when I do, I carry the $1 coin, I put my money where my mouth is...literally.

1 comment:

Daddy Hawk said...

I'm with you. I very rarely carry cash anymore. When I do, I am confronted by the same vicious cycle reported in the BBC article. Having used lower denomination coinage in Europe, I'd like to see it take hold here in America; however, I don't really see that happening until the government takes away the option of having a paper bill.