Dollar coin idea yet again
Being a Washington lobbyist in favor of striking $1 coins and abolishing the $1 bill must be a job for life. The idea always fails, but it is try, try…
Being a Washington lobbyist in favor of striking $1 coins and abolishing the $1 bill must be a job for life.
The idea always fails, but it is try, try again.
Putting a workable dollar coin in circulation has been an ongoing project since the Eisenhower dollar arrived on the scene in 1971.
That’s 44 years ago.
That is longer than most careers.
It failed.
The Anthony dollar failed.
The Sacagawea dollar failed.
The Presidential dollars failed.
But dollar coin advocacy goes on.
Are times finally changing in favor of the coin?
A Voice of America story that I read yesterday says yes.
Jim Kolbe, co-chairman of the Dollar Coin Alliance, says a new poll shows 61 percent of Americans favor the dollar coin over the dollar bill.
Really?
That is a surprise.
The basic facts of this ongoing drama stay the same.
The government will save $4 billion in the next 30 years with coins rather than paper bills, coin advocates say.
Dollar coins are inconvenient, retort paper supporters.
So it goes.
And every story seems to have a statement in it that strikes coin collectors as silly.
In this particular story comes the following gem:
“Adding to the problem is that the gold- and silver-colored metal coins are about the same size as the 25-cent quarter. Robert Blecker, an economics professor at American University in Washington, says the dollar coins should be a different size and thickness.”
He must be recycling his thoughts from 1979.
Here is the link to the story:
Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."
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