Should the cent be kept?

Getting rid of the cent just gives companies an excuse to raise prices.
Plus they will give the gas stations a pass on it like they did the mill.
So when they say fuel is 3.749 per gallon, you will actually pay 3.80.
Smoke and mirrors.
Keep the cent and paper dollars.

Also, the minimum wage is 7.31, how can you justify that without a cent?

 

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Who cares? Round up and move on. encil:

 

Who cares?
'Keep the cent' crowd outnumbers your stance in this thread so far, that's who! :devil:

 

The 'Keep the cent' crowd seems to like the cent more for its artwork and history than it's value in commerce. Just because the Mint stops making the cent doesn't mean we have to stop collecting them. I'm still collecting Half Cents and they ended in 1857. Granted, I can't go to the bank and search rolls of Half Cents, but time marches on.

I would like to see the meaningless penny, nickel, and dime end...and the start of $5, $10, and $20 coins...with some silver content!! :hail:

 

My personal reasons for wanting to keep coinage, all of which is pretty much outmoded, are rooted in numismatics rather than economics as well.

As for the silver content in higher face coinage, that won't happen in a FIAT system, which is the root cause of our inflationary woes. You can't go from a system of money as wealth, to money as debt, and expect good things to happen.

 

The purpose of coins is to support commerce. The value of coins have fallen so far since 1964 that today's quarter has the purchasing power of just over a penny in 1964. If we decide to revalue our coinage (as is regularly done in other countries), there are some issues to consider...

1. Size/utility
2. Confusion with current coinage
3. Vending machine usage
4. Counterfeiting

I'm not sure if we can change the shape of coins much without significant modifications to vending machines design. However, we might consider bi-metal coins like some European coins. That might provide enough size, weight, and appearance changes to address confusion, utility, and vending machine issues.

All coins contain materials of some value. Fiat currency simply needs to be made of materials significantly lower than the face value. A $20 bi-metal coin with a copper center and 40% silver around the edge would cost quite a bit less than $20 to produce...probably about 50¢...but then counterfeiting becomes and issue.

There are very cheap passive RFID devices that can (most likely) be encased within high value coins. They can be remotely detected with RFID-enabled cash registers and vending machines. Stolen money could be automatically detected when the thief attempts to spend it...an additional benefit.

Silver is used in the medical industry for its natural anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties. The use of silver coinage is far cleaner than paper money...made from 25% linen and 75% cotten (basically, a handkerchief).

I'm not saying these are the best ideas...or even good ideas, but we'll have to do something about our coinage eventually...no reason we shouldn't start thinking about it (I hope someone is).

 

I'm not surprised. The United States had a $1,000 bill back when a single G-note could buy you a small house. Now, $1,000 won't buy you a high-end TV and all that's around is the $100. Same as in Canada.

I know why the G-note was yanked, but I think there's a denial-of-inflation aspect as well. I half-seriously propose that the $10,000 bill be introduced. It won't even buy you a new car, whereas a $1,000 bill could buy you at least three in the 1920s.

 

Allow me to present an idea I read elsewhere, somewhat adapted:

Admit that inflation has ravaged the currency, and insitute this reform:

1. Eliminate the penny and the nickel. Make it legal to melt them down so as to facilitate the process of getting rid of them. After doing so, there'd be size-value congruity. The original reason for the dime being smaller than the nickel - silver in the former - is long, long gone.
2. Eliminate all bill lower than the 10. Introduce $1, $2 and $5 coins.


The trouble with this idea is, the $1 coin is pretty large. Canada solved that problem by making the $2 only slightly larger than the $1, but any $5 coin would be close to the size of the old nickel dollar. So this idea may be impracticable unless the quarter is shrunk (which would make for a lot of inconvenience and hassles for vendoing-machine operators.) In Canada, not many people used the half and the nickel dollar even when they were still thought of as circulating coins. I think it's because they were too bulky.

 

Raise the minimum wage to $10. The only people who can live off the current minimum wage are migrant workers who live 10 in a 1-bedroom shack, WalMart employees and kids who still live at home.

Chris