Keep in mind that it is 3AM here right now, and my brain ain't funtioning the greatest, but I figured I would get some opinions on it. Sorry if anything sounds stupid. This is mostly "paper currency" related, but mentions a few coins as well. Here goes: Dear Congressman, I am once again writing you on a couple issues to help modernize the United States currency system. I will list my suggestions, some old, some new. Redesign of the $1 and and $2 Federal Reserve Notes: The $1 and $2 Federal Reserve notes, are extremely vulnerable to counterfeiting, and even though the Treasury has stated that the $1 and $2 notes do not need to be redesigned, due to not being counterfeited as much as the $5-$100 bills, I have been reading that the counterfeiting of $1 and $2 notes is on the rise, simply because of how easy it is to pass a counterfeit $1 or $2 note without much, if any suspicion. Therefore, a redesign of the $1 and $2 Federal Reserve notes with enhanced security features should be done. I know that there is also the concern that redesigning the $1 note would cost small businesses and vendors hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade their dollar bill readers, but there seems to be no trouble updating for new $5 notes, which are circulated about the same as much as $1 notes, and I believe that the $1 and $2 notes should be redesigned and released in late 2011 and vendors should update their machines to accept new $1 and new $2 notes, (as most vending machines do not take $2 notes but should), and with the next currency redesign, the next redesigned $1, $2, and $5 denominations should all be released simultaneously to give vendors the opportunity to upgrade for all three denominations at once, to save money on pulling their machines apart to upgrade individually. Redesign and Increased Production and Circulation of the Half Dollar Coin: Another forgotten denomination, the half dollar, should be redesigned, and its circulation encouraged and increased. The reason is to save on the amount of quarter dollar coins needed to be minted, and also, to help all vendors and other coin-op companies to make less trips to their machines to empty coin tubes, should they be willing to upgrade. But if cashiers start handing out halves in change, the general public may create a demand for vendors and self checkout companies to retool their machines to accept and dispense halves as needed. I did talk with one self checkout company, and the President of the company told me that it would only take about one to two million dollars for him to "entertain" the idea of redoing their machines's design to accept and dispense $2 bills and halves as needed. Now, two million dollars is a lot of money to your average Joe, like me, but to a huge company, it should be no big deal. Reissue of the $500 and $1,000 Federal Reserve Notes: These two denominations should make a return, due to the fact that a $100 note, going back to July 14, 1969, when the $500 and $1,000 notes were last issued, a $100 note was worth what a $1,000 note would be worth today. I know that there are concerns of drug dealers, money launderers and counterfeiters and the like benefiting from these larger denominations, and I also know that there are electronic methods of pay these days, such as credit, debit and checks, but seeing as Europe is issuing 200 Euro notes and 500 Euro notes, the 500 Euro being worth around $880 US$, and the European government does not seem to be too overly concerned with these issues, then why should the United States of America? We are supposed to be the greatest nation in the world, so let's have a decent sized banknote denomination of $1,000 to prove it. The U.S. $500 note would be to compete with the 200 Euro note, as will the $1,000 compete with the 500 Euro note. The $100 denomination is to puny to be the U.S.'s largest denomination of currency any longer. Issuance of a New $200 Federal Reserve Note: A new U.S. $200 Federal Reserve note would be used for the purpose of making change for a $500 and/or $1,000 note easier, and would help cut down on the number of $100 notes currently needed to make change, and to cut down on printing costs of $100 notes as the demand for the $100 note continues to steadily rise. Addition of a New Style Low-Vision Numeral to $1-$1,000 Federal Reserve Notes: All denominations of U.S. Federal Reserve notes should bear a low-vision numeral similar to the Series 2004 $100 Federal Reserve note's new enlarged, golden numeral 100 on the reverse of the new $100 note, to its right. This feature will help most of the visually impaired denominate the note, even in areas with dim lighting. Change of Composition in U.S. Federal Reserve Notes: To save money on U.S. currency printing costs, all denominations and proposed new denominations of Federal Reserve notes $1-$1,000 should be switched over from the current cotton/linen composition, which can not be recycled, and collects more germs as it wears out, to polymer plastic, which can be recycled, holds less germs and is easier to clean than cotton/linen notes, and most importantly, polymer is more durable and lasts up to four times as long as cotton/linen bills, which would mean, a $1 note, which printed on cotton/linen paper lasts about 18 months (or a year and a half) or so average, a polymer $1 note would last up to 6 years, or even longer if the government tried to get the polymer $2 bill circulating to take some of the workload off the $1 note, then the $1 notes may last 7-8 years or so. About as long as a current cotton/linen $100 note lasts. Elimination of the Dollar Coin From General Circulation: Seeing as the majority of the general public seems to reject the dollar coin, although I would support replacing both the $1 and $2 Federal Reserve notes with $1 and $2 coins, I just do not see it happening any time soon, if ever. Therefore, dollar coins should only be minted as the general public demands them for collector items, holiday gifts, collectors, and other special interests. Minting hundreds of millions of dollar coins to sit in bank vaults until most of them have been slowly put into circulation by machine, until collectors hoard them, is a wasted cause, as long as we have $1 notes and could have polymer plastic $1 and $2 notes that would already save a lot of money, although not as much as $1 and $2 coins would. But the idea of $1 and $2 coins just seems unworkable in the U.S. Therefore, the polymer banknote route is the direction that the U.S. should take. Cashiers should all have cash drawers that have five coin slots, and five bill slots, and set the till up NOTES: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000 notes would likely go under the cash drawer or in a safe, to be used as needed. COINS: 1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, 50c, and $1 coins should be scrapped, as I said. All banknote denominations and proposed denominations $1-$1,000 should be redesigned with ever currency redesign. Circulation and vending and self checkout machine reprograming and retooling to accept and dispense both $2 notes and half dollar coins should be encouraged, as should self checkouts and certain vending machines that deal with highly priced items and higher ammounts of cash, should be retooled to accept new U.S. $200, $500, and $1,000 Federal Reserve notes. Once again, I thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing your views on these issues. Sincerely,
Although I may not agree with what you are saying, I sincerely appreciate anyone taking the time to voice their opinion and involve themselves by making sure that the people we vote into office are still functioning by speaking and working on our behalf. Did the congressman reply the first time you wrote a letter in regards to this issue? If he/she did not reply I would make your opening a little more harsh. If he/she did reply I would touch on their suggestions or recommendations and thank them for replying before but somehow I get the sense that they did not reply. So if it was me wanting to sound a little more harsh and critical (after first stroking their ego) I would open with something like this: Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for representing our congressional district in a most dignified manner and for truly being a voice of our community. As an American it is important for me to always look for anything I can do to improve both the standing and economical stature of our great country globally and to improve the lives of fellow citizens domestically. As a congressman it is your responsibility to represent the people and consider all options that could enhance the way of life of all those that you and your peers represent. As a voter and concerned citizen I find it disheartening that my ideas to improve a process in the way we operate our Treasury Department may have fallen on deaf ears and that the voice we voted in to represent us may now be part of a failing branch of our government that has ceased to function in a manner our forefathers so diligently put forth to make sure that legislature continues works on behalf of "We the people". This is my second attempt to discuss with you what ideas I have and to hear the ideas you and your peers have in regards to our common goal of preserving the general welfare of this country and the people that live in it. Please lift the confidence I have in both you and our government by showing me and your other constituents that our voice not only has a mouth speak but also has the ears to hear what the people have to say. All I ask is that you please take the time to read what I have to say and to simply share your views with me. <I wrote this a bit abruptly at 2:40 am PST this Sunday morning, so I too apologize for the rough draft and hope this helps you Drago. Please keep me posted on any response you get from your congressperson> Raul
I agree there should be higher denominations ($500 and $1,000), but the real reason we aren't seeing those is the government wants large amounts to very visible (either large stacks of bills so officials see them going through customs or electronically so there is a permanent record), so they can TAX you. I would also like to see the $1 and $2 replaced with coins.
I totally support your opinion on this. I would suggest using more facts and less opinion in your letter. At best this is going to go to a staffer to read and he/she will decide from there what to do with it. Think about it from their perspective, if the policy ideas have legs they will get some credit for pushing it along and will gladly do so. But as is, they can not do anything with it because it is simply someone's opinion, they will not look at this and then say "Wow, you know this person is really onto something, I am going to spend 3 months of my time and do all the necessary research to push this." I would pick a small issue and focus on that with good analysis. Here is an example of a policy paper just on the type of paper used for currency and the procurement process: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05368.pdf Also, it would help to find out which congressional committee oversee BEP and send it to those legislatures directly instead of your senator/congressperson. Just keep in mind who your audience is and what you want to acomplish. If you just want to express your opionon on the matter then sending this to a newspaper might be a better option. If you want to affect legislation you have a lot more work to do, and sounding 'a little more harsh and critical' will not help. Maybe start by contacting committe members and ask for the most recent problems/issues they are addressing. Engage them and ask first what they are working on and if you can help. Find a group that is already advocating on currency issues and contact them. I applaud your effort and your concern on this issue, good government only happens when average americans care about the details of thier government, and you certainly do.
I would like to see the return of the $500 and $1,000 dollar bills as well but completely redone think of The fan fair
Good advice. I created an organization -- The Institute for the Study of Consequences -- and registered the d/b/a with my county clerk. I have run for office and been elected to office and been appointed to office. Rants go nowhere. "You have a problem and I demand that you fix it" is not a plan. While government action can seem (and often be) arbitrary if not capricious, the fact is that the US government has 200 years of experience at this. They take money seriously. Changing their collective minds on this requires more than shouting from your window. You need facts. In fact -- speaking of facts -- a lobbyist's status derives from the quality of the information they bring. When an elected representative is called to answer for a vote, facts carry weight. Ideology can get in the way, but generally, on a technical issue, your opponents will at least acknowledge the validity of your choice, even as they offer their own. But you need facts. Writing to "Congress" is a waste of time. Huge organizations swing national issues from the local level. They have people in districts. Each district is a decision point. All politics is local. Unless you vote in a district, the representative has no compelling reason to care about your opinion. Currently, we are all looking at filing 1099 tax forms on every purchase over $600. (This was a detail in the Big Health Care Act.) Now, ICTA, the ANA and others are fighting it. They are doing so at the local level, asking their members to contact their representatives. One exception is the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, which has targeted Senate committees and subcommittees on imports and exports of antiquities. Here, too, though, the effort is focused and concentrated, reasoned and funded for that level of engagement.
