Senators McCain and Harkin seek to kill the dollar bill - replace with a coin

The Hill ^ | February 1, 2012 | Josiah Ryan

[opentalk]

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have introduced legislation that would permanently discontinue the $1 dollar note and replace it with a coin.

Harkin and McCain penned The Currency Optimization, Innovation and National Savings (COINS) Act in response to reports from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) that indicate that abandoning the note could save around $5.5 billion over the next 30 years. Specifically the COINS Act would require that Federal Reserve Banks discontinue the $1 note four years after enactment or once circulation of $1 coins exceeds 600 million annually.

[cotton1706]

I don’t know. I was in Israel in the fall and found the 1, 5, and 10 skekel coins really easy to use.

[Pollster1]

Dollar coin? That sounds like a good idea. Should we use it to celebrate a woman such as Susan B. Anthony?

Or a diverse woman such as Sacagawea?

Or our country's great (and not so great) leaders?

I'm sure this time, when DC says "use this coin", we'll listen ... as well as when they said "switch to metric".

[cva66snipe]

Great more confusion at the checkout. I wonder just how much loss due too mis-identification of the new quarters and nickles has cost businesses? I know it's not just me I used to be able to visually tell the difference with no problem not even a second look. Now I watch clerks having too look closely. I find myself when paying for items having too look cliosely. Does one of these clowns have a relative or high dollar donor standing too make a fortune retrofitting vending machines or something?

[pennyfarmer]

I for one would love this to come to fruition. I am a metal detectorist and I would love to start to find $1 coins more regularly.

Besides it does save money when the cost is about double what a bill costs and yet has 30X lifes span.

[Lawgvr1955]

That is a savings of only $180,000,000 a year. The federal government borrows that much every hour of the day, 365 days a year.

Harkins and McLame need to be put to pasture. This is a ridiculous attempt at saving nothing while inconveniencing everyone. Idiots.

[familyop]

Heads up regarding likely future inflation.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Here we go again.....

[tips up]

They would be smart to get rid of pennies and nickels too. Round up or down to the nearest 10 cents. Other countries do this.

[RobbyS]

In West Germany we had the pfennig, one-mark, two-mark and five mark pieces. The five mark piece grew rare as the value of the mark increased. I had a coin purse to carry my coins. Often has as much as 20 DM in it.

[SiVisPacemParaBellum]

[M-cubed]

we already have a $1 dollar coin!!!!!!

...Its worth about $26 bucks according to Gresham's Law!!! http://www.coinflation.com/coins/1921-1935-Silver-Peace-Dollar-Value.html ...Think about it..whos scamming Who???

[DemforBush]

“...abandoning the note could save around $5.5 billion over the next 30 years.”

Ah-huh. Minus the cost of refitting all existing vending machines to take the new coin, for starters.

Besides...if there are no more $1 bills, how are we going to show our appreciation to pole dancers?

[muir_redwoods]

A dollar coin made out of a silve copper alloy with a gram of silver in it per coin would be accepted overnight

[Bi-ped Carbon Unit]

Regardless of how unpopular people think it will be, fiscally, it just makes sense. A coin has about a 30 year, or potentially longer, life span, where a “rag” dollar's is an average of 18 months. A poster above is also correct that we should abandon the cent and nickel, since it costs more to make both of them than their worth (Seigniorage). Both of these ideas would save billions of dollars.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Imagine the weight and the fuel to transport this currency. Not to mention the cost to re-fit machines.

Lived in the UK and HATED the pound coin. (Sorry Brit FReepers). Too heavy, imho.

[dalereed]

If everyone refused to accept them you won’t find any!!!!

[opentalk]

McCain has a track record of sponsoring bad or harmful legislation.

NDAA, Supreme court ruled against part of his Campaign finance bill, he introduced a Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, to give FDA control over supplements - later withdrawn.

He called the tea party Hobbits, because of their concern over government spending. Romney endorser.

[muawiyah]

Sacagawea: Think about it this way ~ what could be more emblematic of America than a teenage girl with a baby ~ a live baby too!

I like that.

She was probably a Chippewa ~ they are the Indians with the greatest incidence of the Sa'ami "X Factor Gene Sequence". That means they are of ANCIENT European and East Asian ancestry.

We have rolls of those coins around the house ~

[VideoDoctor]

What about the pocket weight of carrying around 10 or 20 dollars in one dollar bills as opposed to 10 or 20 $1 COINS?

[KarlInOhio]

The last U.S. coin denomination we got rid of was the half cent in 1857, so everything had to be rounded to the nearest cent. The half-cent from then is worth about 11.5¢ now so the lowest coin was worth 23¢ in current money. Your suggestion to eliminate the penny, nickel and dime leaving the quarter as the lowest coin is almost the same.