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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Niel, post: 362099, member: 13422&quot;]A couple of rambling thoughts here. They are my opinions only and I present them as such with all due respect to others with opposing points of view. I&#039;m curious what y&#039;all think.</p><p><br /></p><p>Pre-WW 2 the population of the US was under 100 million (if that number&#039;s wrong blame Ken Burns)</p><p>Pre-WW 1 the US as a rule was fairly isolationist in it&#039;s views and in it&#039;s trading habits. (I credit my HS history teacher J Glenn Schneider for that info)</p><p>The population was geographically more compact.</p><p>Lines of commerce were simpler.... There were fewer banks, they were more central and personal to the lives of people. The same with day to day consumption. For the most part there was one or two grocery stores.in any given town..a dept. store. You knew the guy you got money from and the guy you were giving it to.</p><p><br /></p><p>In short, I believe currency designs changed as frequently as they did because they could. There was a certain trust established from the familiarity with the source. &quot;If the banker said these were the new nickels, or on the one dollar note...you believed him.&quot; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Fast forward to the US in a post-WW 2 world. The country is now anything but isolationist. The government and private business is becoming global in reach. The population of the US is growing rapidly.&nbsp; US currency is becoming a global currency. Up until this recent devaluation of the dollar,&nbsp; the US dollar had become almost the de facto benchmark for international commerce and the global economy. Almost anywhere in the world one could use the US dollar in some manner for commerce. In fact in some countries, the local currency was shunned in favor of US dollars.</p><p>Along with this popularity&nbsp; came a reluctance to change the designs on US money. When there are now 100x people using a currency you want it to be stable. Fixed. Familiar.</p><p>Look at how infrequently the BEP changed the designs on any small size currency since the thirties.</p><p><br /></p><p>Let&#039;s add in the effects of inflation and other economic growth. Our money doesn&#039;t go as far as it once did.&nbsp; Coinage becomes less and less useful in everyday use. Paper money becomes more useful by virtue of the higher denominations available, and because of its perceived convenience (lighter in weight, less likely to make your hands dirty. etc.) Once the government removed silver from coins whatever perception anyone might have over the &#039;increased value of silver coinage&#039; over paper money is eroded.&nbsp; There becomes little difference between a hunk of base metal and a piece of paper. </p><p><br /></p><p>I agree in the use and value of higher denomination coins. Overseas I used them and it was no big deal. I certainly didn&#039;t long for a 1 Yuan note <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>However, this country hasn&#039;t produced an acceptable dollar coin since the advent of the mini dollars. The SBA was too similar to the quarter, the Sac has a nice design, but the coin&#039;s metallic makeup makes it get ugly really fast. The new presidential dollars have all of the problems of the Sacs plus, the edge inscriptions while very cool in theory are in practice and execution WAAAY too small to read without a loupe <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I also believe that more pride was placed in what was on the US currency earlier in the country&#039;s history than now. When this country was half it&#039;s current age, the concept of a free republic was more novel. The national ideals were expressed through its currency. While we profess to say that these ideals are so important that they must be placed on our money...makes me think this mostly lip service. Case in point, the mini controversy that erupted over the edge inscriptions of the new presidential dollar coins after the mint made some error coins&nbsp; lacking &quot;In God We Trust&quot; which compelled Congress to Legislate a change in placement of the motto. I have no beef with the motto itself. But I don&#039;t know of anyone who called their congressmen because our coins were lacking any word or symbol of LIBERTY.&nbsp; I won&#039;t get into my beef with putting dead presidents on coins...even if one could hardly argue with the accomplishments and contributions that George, Tom, Abe, Franklin and Jack made to this country.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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