Buddy, spare a dime?

In the sea of $16.3 trillion of debt that grows by another $3.5 billion each day ($1.3 trillion each year) – Congress has an innovative solution:  do away with the $1 bill.  Of course this issue isn’t really related to the debt – but I found it amusing with all of the fervor of the supposed fiscal cliff (that I earlier wrote is really a bump in the road ) there was actually a Congressional sub-committee that once again wants to replace the dollar with a coin.  They can’t seem to figure out how to balance the books - but let's focus on paper money and whether to dump the penny.
Retire the Penny is a website sponsored by citizens who want to abolish the one cent piece.  The most obvious justification is that it costs 2.4 cents to produce each penny.  Each year it costs $120 million to produce currency that is worth $50 million.  Nickels are even worse – at a cost of more than 11 cents per.
The Mint provided the sub-committee with a promise that they will be making suggestions to address the cost basis, including moving to multi-plated steel as the material to make future coins from.  That would save $200 million per year – chump change in a $3.796 trillion budget, but still.  They’ve been studying the issue for 18 months.
It is important to have currency that doesn’t cost more to make than it’s worth.  It’s also time to let the penny retire, just as the half-penny retired in 1857 and other denominations before that.  As monetary value changes with time so must the paper and coins that represent the value.  Replacing the paper dollar with coin hasn’t been effective in the various attempts so far, mostly because people are left with a choice of what they’ve been familiar with their entire lives, and something different.  Electronic payment is rapidly taking over – the elimination of the paper dollar will become a non- issue.
A far better use of Congress’s time would be looking at the $1.327 trillion in annual deficit spending.  None of the hysteria and hand wringing today is about balancing the books:  having the US spend what it brings in.  The hoopla about “the cliff” would change the $1.327 trillion annual shortfall down to about $1.2 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year.  A big amount no question – but not as big as the amount accruing.  Despite the rhetoric, that doesn’t even consider the $16.3 accumulated debt. 
 

 
Continuing to focus on the smaller issues – not that the U.S. seems incapable of fiscal responsibility (by either party) means that the country is heading for a fiscal avalanche.  Maybe not next year or the year after – but as any of us who have ever borrowed money or used a credit card knows:  the bill always comes due.  And the bill will come when it’ll be too late to have our hand out asking if anybody can spare a dime (which costs just $0.04 to make.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hoping for Grace

I wrote this blog regularly for many years, 330 unique posts. Every Thursday I’d post my thinking for the week. I always strove to offer a perspective that wasn’t in the main discourse on a particular issue. It wasn’t left or right or even center – just looking at something from a different angle. There were some really great dialogues that happened with people who appreciated nuance and having a substantive conversation. I never sought for agreement from readers, just a healthy and respectful debate. The election of Donald J. Trump changed the engagement from polite discourse to flame throwing character assination if somebody disagreed. That wasn’t interesting or productive to me, so the blog no longer served its intended purpose. I return to the format because today because it seems to be a good way to explore an issue that I’ve been long committed to, but handled in a thoughtless way. Recently I made a thoughtless comment on a Facebook post that was undeniably racist, and demean
Read more

Give me a break!

The idiom “give me a break” generally is used when you don’t believe something that has happened or been said. We’ve all muttered the expression a lot lately, especially around the 2016 Presidential race. I am going to use it here more literally. I started this blog in late July 2010. This is the 329 th iteration. At an average of 750 words that’s nearly 250,000 words. To compare that’s about three average mystery novels (at 80,000 words each), much less than the Bible (800,000 words) and nowhere near the IRS Code (4 million words). Originally Craig’s Corner was a way to keep me focused during a long stint where I was without work or income. With gainful employment it has become a welcome respite from the day-to-day tasks. I tend to focus on issues that are interesting to me but not necessarily a critical part of what I do day in and day out. My perspective isn’t unique, but I do look at the word with a different lens. I’ve tried hard not to be part of the echo chamber and been
Read more

Giving the gift

Image
The holidays are right around the corner. It’s a time of reflection, excitement and no matter one’s religious predilections a there’s a tradition of gift giving. Talking about the holidays before Halloween is usually met with revulsion and resistance. This time it’s different. While we can’t grant everybody’s #1 wish – that the 2016 U.S. Presidential election cycle be over – maybe we can do something close.   Let’s give Donald J. Trump what he’s been talking about. I’m wary of adding to the proliferation of commentary on the Grand Old Party’s nominee. But then maybe there’s something to the Trump complaints. Instead of dismissing everything that comes out of his mouth as made up, perhaps we should be doing is more of what he worries about, not less. The more recent complaints from the real-estate tycoon have to do with media bias. All “the media” does is lie, distort and never gives him fair coverage. This same media generated over a billion dollars of free brand and nam
Read more