I've been trying to understand the reasoning for state quarters and the pres dollars... how does collecting these coins impact our economy?
xeno: I am not sure about your question, but I'll give it a stab: Every quarter & dollar coin produced by the mint makes a profit for the government, therefore, every coin that does not circulate is a profit for the government. Or, possibly, not. I am sure that someone will disagree.
According to wikipedia Seigniorage is the profit gained by a government when it issues currency. The U.S. government discovered at the launch of the State Quarters series that a large number of people were collecting each new quarter as it rolled out of the U.S. Mint, taking the pieces out of circulation. Since it costs the Mint less than five cents for each 25-cent piece it produces, the government made a profit whenever someone bought a coin and chose not to spend it. The U.S. Treasury estimates that it has earned about $4.6 billion in seigniorage revenue from the quarters so far. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_State_Quarters
I have to agree with you completely. Many people just don't understand that our government is now in the buisness of making money to support themselves any way they can. The Mint is just one more place trying to make a buck. If they stick to producing money in the form of coins and currency they will soon enough be laying off personal and we know the government just wouldn't do that. If you look around you'll notice that the usage of our monitary system is fading away. Credit Cards, Debit Cards, internet payments, etc are making this a soon to be without money civilasation. Soon enough with all the international transactions only a computerized monitary system will be effective so that transactions all over the world will be possible without massive attempts to calculate the cost of items. With such a computerized montary system why would any coinage be required except in gum ball machines. Therefore our Mint makes coins for collectors more and more and less and less for circulation. If you look at the Red Book for example you'll see pages and pages of commenoratives that are for collectors only. The famous Bicentennial coins were supposed to be such but failed. Now the state Quarters, baby dollars, etc. are just futher attempts for the Mint to stay in buisness just a while longer.
Of course, I don't know if the gov't has figured in the cost of putting down all the riots once people discover that their statehood quarters are actually worth only 25c and that they won't be able to put their kids through college by selling them in a few years The comments from the above posts also make it clear why the current 1cent and 5cent coins will soon be history. Costs more than 1c and more than 9c to make each one of those. The gov't will catch on sooner or later. I don't think there's any question that 2009 is the last year for the lincoln as we know it. I think the nickel at the same time or even before that. (Sorry, this is an old rant.....)
Basically the government makes money if they mint coins or print paper money that people hoard and never turn back into the banks, who then turn them back over to the government when they are worn out.
Another thing to consider is the prices of metals. As our scientific community surges ahead with materials that are not metalic in nature, eventually what we now consider expensive metals will drop in value due to lack of usage. Most dentist have stopped using metals for teeth. Most communication systems are either Fiber Optic or wireless eliminating millions of tons of wires that used to be used for this purpose. When was the last time you saw a car made completely of metals. I have a car that weighs over 6,000 dry weight but that was made in 67. That is now the weight of several cars made of plastics. Most piping in houses today are plastic, not copper or steel. Many areas use premade wiring where conduits are not required. When you hear about the price of making coins being so high note the government is not complaining. It's only the tax payers that complain and the Mint goes on and on and on. It will not be long before some kid says "Hey Dad. What is that stuff I heard on TV that was used in the old days called MONEY?"
