Comments on: US Mint Seeks Public Comment on Metallic Coin Composition Factors and Modernization

By: Brain Y

Brain Y — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:40:47 +0000

I finally received a check from the BEP for the mutilated 1963 $2 bill.
I am wondering, will clad coins be treated the way we treated silver coins in the 1970’s when people pulled them out of circulation as we change to steel coins? Will people being buying copper by the ounce, too, 10 years from the day steel coins are introduced? I still feel we shoud use United States steel since it will help the industry and the change in change will be inevitable.

By: Vachon

Vachon — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:44:16 +0000

It wouldn’t necessarily have to be true parity. It could be a more modern “flexible parity”, say for the sake of argument: $42.22/tr.oz. ±5% to allow for emergencies and whatnot.

By: Munze

Munze — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:59:42 +0000

I’m no fan of fiat money either but unless someone can figure out a way to re-regulate the price of gold, any attempt at requiring parity would be impossible. Unfortunately that genie started slipping out of the bottle in 1933 and escaped completely when gold and silver were allowed to float freely.

By: Brian Y

Brian Y — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:40:45 +0000

I sent in an old 1963 $2 bill to the Treasury for redemption because part of it was eaten away by something so I could not sell it nor redeem it at a bank. That was back in August. I have yet to see the check from the Mutilated Currency Redemtion center. I know it is only $2, but should I give up? Also, I feel that it is painfully necessary to have steel nickels and cents because it could potentially help the United States steel industry, that is, if we buy the planchets in the U.S. (I hope). I doubt we will ever see gold & silver in circulating coins for this century,.

By: Vachon

Vachon — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:56:49 +0000

How about a 21st century version of the Resumption Act? We don’t need to go back to circulating gold coins, but that shouldn’t preclude a requirement that the dollar have parity with the metal. Its current official value is $42.22 per troy ounce. Restoring the value of our circulating coinage would help a lot more than finding ever cheaper alternatives of production. Why must we all be passive acceptors of inflation? They say deflation is bad, but how can it be really? If deflation were say, 3-5% a year, would anyone really put off buying groceries, making needed home repairs, buying a new coat, hiring a lawyer, etc. because it would be cheaper next year? It took a hundred years for the dollar to get to this point. Surely we could undo the damage in a generation or two if we put our heart into it. We don’t need steel nickels or cents, we just need to reduce the money supply.