Congress debates face of $1 coin

[LynneSin]

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/04/27congressdebates.html

Congress debates face of $1 coin
Delaware's Castle sponsors bill to mint dollars featuring past presidents
By JENNIFER BROOKS / News Journal Washington Bureau
04/27/2005

WASHINGTON -- Before long, American pockets could be jingling with dollar coins engraved with the faces of Ronald Reagan, Millard Fillmore and Bill Clinton, as Congress considers a plan to begin minting dollar coins to commemorate all the past presidents.

Hoping to cash in on the popularity of the state quarter program - which has generated $5 billion in revenue and turned an estimated 140 million Americans into coin collectors - the House of Representatives began debate Tuesday on legislation that could turn the golden dollar coin into a hot collectible.

The coins would be minted at a rate of four presidents a year, starting with George Washington and working up to the modern day. Every former president, living and deceased, would be on a dollar coin if the bill becomes law. Sitting presidents would be excluded under the bill. Supporters hope the new twist will drive up demand for dollar coins that now are gathering dust in sock drawers and coin collections.
<<<<<<snip>>>>>

Because coins are more durable than bills, the government could save as much as $500 million a year on printing costs if the public embraced the dollar coin, according to a 2002 report by the General Accounting Office.


This would be the ONLY way that I would allow Reagan on a coin - if it was a series that included the faces of ALL the presidents - just like the state quarters

[ET Awful]

1. Why bother? Ever attempt at putting a dollar coin into circulation

that they've made in the past 50 years or so has failed miserably.

[Paul Dlugokencky]

4. but these will be collectibles

so, getting them into circulation might not matter as much. Collectors will gobble 'em up.



http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[saigon68]

29. What no more "INDIAN MASCOTS" on our $1.00 coin

YIKES

[MADem]

7. If prices keep going up, they'll be like quarters

They'll just dump the pennies, nickles and dimes, and the jingle in your pocket will mean you have a few bucks on ya!

[liberal N proud]

2. My thoughts exactly

"be the ONLY way that I would allow Reagan on a coin"

[Paul Dlugokencky]

3. Harry Truman!

"The buck stops here."



http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[annabanana]

5. I bet it'd work!

The coins might not "circulate" much, but selling them to collectors would catch on.

They would NOT replace paper ones, though.

[Mel]

6. coins are heavy

What about using hemp for bills?

I have some of the Sacagawea coins and I think they are easily confused with a quarter. I think that's part of why they didn't go over well.
I do like the Sacagawea coin for the art it's one that I decided to hang onto.

If they put 'Raygun' on a coin I won't be collecting it, as a matter of fact I would ask for a paper bill if still possible.

[Nobody]

10. I liked the Sacajawea coins

They're larger than a quarter, a different color, and not milled along the sides.

The only way a dollar coin would get anywhere if if they actually deigned to circulate them. As it is you have to ask for them at a bank, even when the coins were first "in circulation".

I have yet to receive one as change anywhere other than a post office stamp machine. And the first several months after the coin was minted, I would ask for several rolls and spend them everywhere to get them in circulation.

Whatever goes on the dollar coin, how much do you want to bet that it fails too?

[Blue_Tires]

46. i loved them, too

are they still being made?

[Renew Deal]

21. Europe loves the damned things.

When Europe created their currency, they created tons of coins.

1¢ 2¢ 10¢ 20¢ 1€ 2€ and a bunch more. It seemed like way to much.

[Occulus]

31. HOW are you confusing them??

One's gold and has a smooth edge; one's 'silver' and has a milled edge. They're not the same size....

Are you thinking of Susan B.'s?

[obreaslan]

8. Finally, John Tyler gets the recognition he deserves....

:) :rofl:

[LynneSin]

9. We're just greatful that James Buchanon finally made it

He's so overshadowed by that other guy that followed him, that Abe, I think he name is!

:eyes:

[HawkerHurricane]

11. Would Grover Cleveland get two coins?

Since he's counted twice for his non-consecutive terms?

[LynneSin]

15. Would the boy chimp be removed...

...since technically he was never elected in the first place.

Or we'll just point this portrait on his coin:

[d.l.Green]

23. Hopefully they will have finished minting this series while he's still in

office... "Sitting presidents would be excluded under the bill." That would be precious.

[pie]

39. Just the thought of chimp on a coin makes me sick

[Ishoutandscream]

27. Yes, yes!! Penn. only president

It's about damn time!!! Lol

[iamjoy]

36. His Accidency...

Wasn't that Tyler?

Of course, if Dubya hadn't gotten a second term, I would have thought it applied to him.

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. It's not the face that has been the problem

If it looks like another SBA dollar it won't fly. Several countries have successful dollar coins. If we swallow our pride and actually "gasp" copy what has worked in Canada and elswhere, this could be a good thing.

[tanyev]

13. I believe one of the reasons it has been so successful

elsewhere is because they actually STOPPED making the paper currency.

[LizW]

14. Correct.

If we stop making the paper dollar, the dollar coin will do just fine, and it will save money.

[mmonk]

16. It seems to me

$1 coins don't catch on well and is primarily a waste of time except maybe for collectors.

[frictionlessO]

17. Personally Ill mallet out or train track many of the repub ones I got at

least 'pubs from the last 35 years or so.

Other than that I like it.

[Xithras]

35. Never train track a coin

When I was in junior high a classmate put a quarter on the tracks alongside our school. When the train came along, the weight of the train and the angle of the wheel caused the quarter to be fired out like a bullet. It hit him just above the ankle, shattering the bone and ripping out a big chunk of his flesh...it looked like a gunshot wound.

Pennies are soft and flatten easily, but any of the larger coins are made of harder metals that can act unpredictably when placed on a track.

[frictionlessO]

41. Holy crap I've never heard of such a horrible incident.

I will most assuredly take your advice and figure out some other devious means of defiling the 'pub'd ones. I feel so bad for your classmate, just traumatic. Did they sue anyone??

[Xithras]

42. Who would they have sued?

He put the quarter on the track, after all.

Seriously, I used to flatten pennies, crush rocks, and put all kinds of other things on railroad tracks as a kid because it was cool to watch them get crushed. After seeing his leg, I haven't done so since.

[Blaq Dem]

49. very interesting.... why not use tape?

[Kokonoe]

18. This is a back door attempt to get Wimp-chimp on a coin.

[leesa]

19. I'm sure these 'wastes of space' have nothing better to do...

[Renew Deal]

20. That's pretty cool.

:thumbsup:

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. I love dollar and two dollar coins in Canada

And the bigger denomination coins in England.

I don't know why they don't work here. they're really convenient. My wife thinks it's cuz Americans like to walk around with the pimp roll ($20 over a bunch of singles). She's probably right. The society of the scam...

[Danmel]

24. the Loonie and the Two-nie

We are NOT an adaptable people here in America.

[DELUSIONAL]

25. EC -- Eastern Caribbean currency used a coin for $1

I actually prefer this to having a whole mess of one dollar bills.

It is probably all a matter of what one is used to.

http://www.eccb-centralbank.org/PublicAwareness/particles_5.asp

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Uh oh, freepers won't like this:

"Sitting presidents would be excluded under the bill."

NO DUBYA WORSHIPPING? WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA SO MUCH???

[barackmyworld]

28. but by the time they get to him, he'll be a past president

4 per year, he'll be out of office by then.

[Journeyman]

32. At four presidents a year. . .

Shrub will be a decade or more out of office before his turn arrives, so he'd get a coin. The Democrat in office at that time would be the one excluded.

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. I don't think that they should put living people on coins

They do not do it on stamps. They can certainly wait until the former Presidents are deceased to add them to the series.

[woosh]

33. I would recommend a "corporate plunderer" collection

Who wouldn't want a Ken Lay, Kozlowski or Regis on the back of their $1 coin?

[gauguin57]

34. WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?

My God ... the only coinage they'll put any women on (Sacajawea and Susan B. Anthony) is the $1 coin, which people hate.

Now, they're not even going to have women's faces on THOSE?

I guess the United States just doesn't give a shit about the historical contributions of ANY American women. Why don't they just make us wear burqas?

Eff this idea.

[iamjoy]

37. That's An Idea Gauguin57...

They changed the quarter to the "state quarters" - they changed the back of the nickel to commemorate the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Why don't we get them to take an EXISTING coin and temporarily replace the man on there with a series of women who have made significant contributions to history. To try and eliminate any political grandstanding, the woman could not be anyone alive and could not just be a first lady unless she made other contributions to American society, history, etc.

It's an idea, you think?

[Solon]

40. You know part of the reason is this...

Coin OP machines read current, not the ike dollar coins, as quarters, they cannot tell a difference, that was a HUGE mistake, and one reason why those two particular coins bombed with people. I should know, we use such a machine to count coins at work every night, and you DO NOT put any dollar coins, either the current, or Susan B. Anthony one into the machine, because it is counted as a quarter, rather than a dollar.

[Blaq Dem]

48. What about blacks????

My ancestors have been in this country for ages. We're always left out when it comes to anything historical. It's as if we don't exist.

This looks like a desperate white man's last gasp for air; doing anything he can to maintain power.

What's the point of having these stupid $1 coins anyway?

[Freddie Stubbs]

38. Looks like it is passing almost unamously

423-4 (not quite the final number)

[donheld]

43. William Harrison finally gets the recognition he earned

I only wish * had served as long as Dear ole Willie.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

44. Well, with this congress, we already know who is going to be on the coin.

Those idiots have wanted to put Reagan on SOMETHING ever since he started drooling into his soup.
Duckie

[jdj]

45. so true.

he so looks like the Shoney's (or Bob's big boy) mascot with his plastic hair.

[daleo]

47. They should have the "mediocre presidents" series, a la Simpsons

The Mediocre Presidents
All: We are the mediocre presidents.
You won't find our faces on dollars or on cents!
There's Taylor, there's Tyler,
There's Fillmore and there's Hayes.
There's William Henry Harrison,
Harrison: I died in thirty days!
All: We... are... the...
Adequate, forgettable,
Occasionally regrettable
Caretaker presidents of the U-S-A!

A line of the song would have to be updated. But at least the chimp couldn't get on, as he doesn't even rate as mediocre.

[Lisa]

50. if they put Bush on the coin, it will circulate VERY quickly ...

People will be frantically spending them because they don't want to have to carry them around.


So maybe this plan isn't as nutty as I'd thought ...

[Kimber Scott]

51. Cool. nt