5 ms·
Swapping US $1 bills to coins would save 5.5b over 30yrs
- stretchwithme 16y agoIn 30 years, we'll be having this conversation about getting rid of the $100 bill.
- anonymoushn 16y agoWe'll be in a heap of trouble, because there are no larger denominations.
- justin_vanw 16y agoOr, alternatively, we could cut defense spending by 1% and save that much money every year. Better yet, lets cut defense spending by 50% and save $300B per year. Honestly, other than the big defense contractors, nobody would ever notice or care (well, people would notice that our economy suddenly had 300B of extra cash in it every year).
- teyc 16y agoYup, that's the same savings as ending the Iraq war 5.5 days earlier.
- stretchwithme 16y agoThe actual costs of defending the United States against Canadian aggression is probably only 10% of what we now spend. One has to wonder how much we'd save if we simply had term limits, proportional representation or instant runoff voting. We need representation that actually represents our actual interests instead of being so easily bought and sold.
- alanh 16y agoAcademics love to get a taste of that defense budget via research grants, but yeah, agreed. Lots of waste inherent in the military-industrial complex. Plus there’s the whole killing people thing.
- melling 16y agoWe already have $1 coins. There was a recent push to get people to accept them. Didn't seem to work. At this point, we should move to contactless cash cards that can be used like some credit cards but without transaction fees. Reducing the need to carry cash will also save money, and time. Wait, I've got a penny here somewhere.
- thought_alarm 16y agoGet rid of the dollar bill and those coins will take off real quick. After 18 months no one would miss having to jam a few dollar bills into a machine to buy a Coke.
- anonymoushn 16y agoAbsolutely. Additionally, wider use of large coins would enable vending machines to sell more goods without accepting bills. We could do without the $2 and $5 if we really wanted.
- iujyhfgtrtgyhju 16y agoYou aren't thinking 'washington' - it's undignified to slip coins into a striper's panties
- anonymoushn 16y agoAs Marie Antoinette almost certainly didn't say, let them use tens.
- dasil003 16y agoI'm not sure what's stupider, people's attachment to one dollar bills or the idea that we need to get them to accept coins before pulling the paper ones. I've been spending a lot of time in London recently, and it's shocking how much better things work with coins up to £2 and paper only for £5 and above. First of all, change suddenly is useful again, second of all, if you have paper money it's actually worth something. It used to be this way in the US too, I mean you actually used to buy things with a nickel or dime. Doing away with paper ones should not be such a big deal, it should be thought of as maintaining the status quo in light of inflation, but I guess it's a boiling frog situation.
- siculars 16y agoOooh. 5.5 billion /pinky raised to mouth/. Add a zero or two and cut the years in half and you may have something. That kind of money in this kind of economy is rather inconsequential. Anonymous electro cash. That's the win. I am not a fan of a cashless future if we lose our anonymity in the process.
- johnrob 16y agoAfter the 700 billion TARP bailout that our government minted on a whim, I've never looked at Federal money the same way. If it's not 12 digits, it's definitely inconsequential.
- johnnygood 16y agoYou're right. Coins are cheaper than bills, but $183M per year isn't going to balance the budget. Basically, keeping the $1 in bill form is costing 60 cents per American per year.
- stretchwithme 16y agoIt probably costs that much in gasoline carting the things around.
- citricsquid 16y agocoins work well for us here in England, might not be so great for strippers though.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago5.5 billion, that's a LOT of money, that's almost 0.2% of the annual federal budget. sigh
- astrodust 16y agoHey, a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to some real money.
- afinlayson 16y agoIf you want to save more?? switch to debit/plastic. It would be greener then paper OR coins and harder to steal (although only slightly)
- hsmyers 16y agoOh good--- I still have a change purse!