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Message:: [QUOTE="Howard Black, post: 3223164, member: 97119"]N.B.: Please don't "tl;dr" this. It's important. Really... It's not the lobbyists or the public (I will concede that the public does prefer paper to metal, but they are not a consideration). It's the Federal Reserve. Common sense alone makes this clear, but not too long ago, l istened to an interview with a couple of "insider" experts bemoaning the repeated failure of dollar coins to gain traction (whereas in Canada, I note, one and two dollar coins are accepted without issue). The conversation went something like this (rough paraphrase): The problem is that the public won't accept one dollar coins so long as paper dollars remain available. The real problem is the continued resistance from the Federal Reserve (to eliminate the paper dollar). There was some head-scratching as to their irrational resistance, and, not being able to explain it, they moved on. I was shocked! Shocked at these guys, whom if anyone should "get it" it should be them! It's so bloody simple! The Fed looks after its own best interest ("interest" in both senses of the word). The Bureau of Printing and Engraving sells stacks of bills hot off the intaglio presses straight to the Fed. The Fed pays the BEP the cost of printing. I will repeat that: The Fed pays the cost of printing -- which is the same -- regardless of denomination. The last I heard (a few years ago, so, inflation may have raised the cost by some genuinely inconsequential amount), this was four cents per bill. $0.04 for a $1 bill, $0.04 for a $100 bill. Maybe inflation has ramped that all the way up to a nickel, or even a dime, i don't know, but as I said, inconsequential. They then lend it back to the Treasury, at face value -- plus interest. And thus, the farce of "paying off the national debt." (How are you going to pay off the debt, when in order to obtain dollars to pay the interest, you need to borrow that, too? (Borrowed with interest on the newly borrowed interest, borrowed to pay off the interest...) We, as a nation, literally owe our souls to the company store. But I digress. Coins follow a somewhat different protocol. When the Fed buys coins, it's they that have to pay face value. This is why it's oft stated -- truthfully -- that there's a way we can pay off the national debt. All we need to do is get the exact amount of the debt, and then have the U.S. Mint strike one coin denominated in that amount. I.e. (and here, I fish an astronomical number from deep within my nethermost regions), the Mint strikes a coin that says "$575,847,035,892,352 Dollars" (I'd have it add the amount spelled out in words, but I think we'd like the coin to be of a size that an be carried by one person.) We then deliver it to the Fed, and say, "Thanks for the loans. Here you go, they're now paid in full." The Fed Boys may gasp, sputter, shudder, and look for the quickest route to the express elevator to the roof, while dashing off a final love note to their families, but that won't change a thing. 1: Will the national debt be paid in full? Yes. 2: Will the economy enter a chaotic implosion from which it may never recover? Probably. 2a: Will the country return to a gold/silver economy, leaving the chaotically imploded mess in the dust? Sadly, probably not (unless enough Big Guys find those elevators and then take the super-express route to sea level). I again digress. The point is, as long as the Federal Reserve has the power to continue their "sell me $100 for $.04, and I'll lend it back to you for $100 plus interest" game -- and, the power to veto any attempt to RIP the $1 bill in half -- nothing will change (by which I mean, the $1 coin's roll in our daily change will amount to nothing). And that's the rest of the story. PS: For anyone who still clings to the idea that the public's preference amounts to a hill of beans, consider the other bits of currency which "We, The People" would have preferred to keep -- and which are gone, gone gone. Examples? Off the top of my head, copper pennies, silver dimes and so forth. And how about a negative example? Due to a comedy of errors, the half dollar fell out of use in 1964 and never fell back into use. Yet, they continued to mint them by the ton until 2002! The public's pressure to continue minting these coins was precisely zero. Yet, they continued to be minted -- and warehoused. Why? If I had to speculate, I'd guess that it was probably due to the Fed being obligated to accept standard mintage quantities -- and the Mint would need to have been crazy and stupid to turn down a deal like that! I'll qualify the above by pointing out that until they switched to electronic slot machines, the casino industry used them, which is why -- when you get a roll of halves at the bank -- it'll be a mix of pretty much BU coins and coins that look like they've been through the war. Obv/Rev sides nicked, dinged, and scratched to hell, and reeding completely worn smooth. (This, due to years of dropping into the hopper after being inserted into the slot, crashing into the tray when the machine hits a jackpot, and, rolling on edge from one part of the machine to another). When the slots went digital, the coins went to the deposit bag, and now they're in the coin rolls. Keep in mind, though, that the casinos didn't give a damn about the condition of these coins, as evidenced by the abysmal quality of the "Casino Halves" we find in our rolls. It was basically a one-time purchase each time they added a new machine (reduced in size by the transfer of coins from machines retired from service). And sure, there were millions of coins in the slots -- but they were a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount minted. Apart from them, the only other "users" were collectors, and "novelty buyers." (My kid will get a kick when the tooth fairy leaves this under the pillow!) Both these classes in the aggregate amount to less than a rounding error. No, the public's desires are simply of no account when these decisions are made. Now, for anyone still reading -- and interested -- here's why the half dollar was no longer circulated after 1963: In a word, "JFK" -- and in more than a word... the JFK assassination. The JFK half dollar was first minted the next year, 1964. All of our "silver" coins were still silver. Believing this to be a one-time commemorative issue, people hoarded them. The Mint, meanwhile, anticipating hoarding, struck a huge number of them. But, they were hoarded anyway -- as many as they could put into circulation were immediately snatched up and never saw light of day after that. (Well, at least not until about 15 years later...) Before this, half dollar coins were treated no differently from any other "pocket change" coins. You'd buy something for a dime, hand the clerk a dollar, and get bak a half, a quarter, a dime, and a nickel. I remember walking around with quarters, nickels, dimes, pennies, and halves in my pocket every day -- until '64. The only reason people stopped spending them was because they were JFK coins -- which they mistakenly believed would only be a one-year issue. The next year, when they learned that they'd continue to mint JFK halves -- but, that the silver had been reduced to less than half what it had been -- and, reduced to zero in all other coins, and, to zero in the JFK coins too in just a few years -- they saw the handwriting on the wall. They continued hoarding them! The first year, they hoarded them because they thought they'd be a one-year keepsake. Afterwards, they hoarded them because they were silver's last gasp. If LBJ had reduced the JFK to 0% instead of 40% in 1965 (or, if they'd actually made the JFK coin a one-year-only issue), the hoarding would have stopped, and we'd still be using half dollars today. OK, that's the end of the story -- and no griping, please -- I did say this part was only for those interested![/QUOTE]

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