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Caught between the longing for love and the struggle for the legal tender
by anna at 07:48 PM on June 14, 2004
I'm fascinated by money. Not having it, cuz I'm chronically house-poor and fine with that. It's the cash itself that intrigues me. Folks are real particular about legal tender. They don't seem to care for dollar coins, for example. The US Mint dropped like $61 million on an ad campaign designed to make us accept the Sacagawea coin but it failed miserably, just as it's predecessor the SB Anthony did. You'd sooner see Michael Moore blowing Donald Rumsfeld than encounter one of these duds. Here's what they look like in case you missed it.
Why are Americans so resistant to dollar coins?
On the other hand we seem to grudgingly accept changes to bills. When I first was given one of those shiny new $20 bills I thought it was a crude counterfeit. But now I take it in stride. I know the change was done to combat counterfeitors armed with ever more sophisticated gadgetry at their disposal. It does raise the question of what harm is there in counterfeiting money, however. I mean, so long as merchants believe it's real, then everything works fine with privately and publicly printed bills in circulation. It's not as though genuine cash is backed up dollar for dollar with gold in Ft Knox anymore or anything.
For that matter, why do we need cash and the armed robberies it begets anyway? Bills are paid online. Purchases can be made with the swipe of a debit card.
But cash persists because old men insist on using it, just as they carry around combs and talk about the weather. So stores put up signs saying that there's a mere pittance in the register and that the cashier can't open the safe. This is a lie. Bound across the counter with a loaded shotgun, haul him home and threaten to make his family watch an entire episode of Dr. Phil. Magically he'll produce the key, trust me.
Part of the reason I'm so broke is that Social Security syphons off such a large amount of income. I know I'll never receive a dime from this glorified pyramid scheme and I don't even care. I just wish we could call it even: No more contributions and I cede any entitlement I may have earned.
The only old persons I really care much about are my mom and my in-laws. All of them are rich and they stockpile their Social Security checks in drawers for months until it is worthwhile to cash them. Yet all you twenty-somethings stand even less of a chance of recouping a nickel from this fund that is projected to go belly-up in about 20 years, just in time for my retirement and golden years spent in an appliance box under a bridge.
comments (10)
I was surprised how much SS people pay here, all things considered - but at least you have a slim chance of seeing some of it back. I'm going to be gone in a couple of months. By which point I'll have contributed... umm, $150 in social security. Guess it could be worse.
I also would like to abolish cash. Except it scares me to think that a couple of companies (Visa, Mastercard, etc) would get a cut of every purchase that everyone makes. Not sure how much that cut is, though...
They trialled an e-cash program somewhere in the UK a few years ago, where you "loaded" cash onto a chip on your keyring, and could use it to buy stuff. I wonder if they've figured out how to do that unhackably.
by Andy at June 14, 2004 11:59 PM
Unhackably! My debit card works pretty much like that. When checking acct funds are depleted you get this embarassing electronic message that isn't nearly as bad as a snooty French waiter making a big show of declining your credit card.
by anna at June 15, 2004 7:45 AM
I don't understand why the US Mint doesn't get that paper dollars are much easier to carry around. They fit in your wallet, don't fall out of your pocket in your car and end up under your seat, don't bulge your pockets out so you look like Ron Jeremy on his day off et. al. Paper money is just more convienient and that's what we're about, convienience right?
by Ezy at June 15, 2004 9:13 AM
But coins have their place. I know a couple who, when their daughter was born, started putting all of theirs into a jar. Each day they'd empty their pockets and purse. Now she's going to college courtesy of said jar.
The mom, that is. The daughter ran away from their OCD asses.
by anna at June 16, 2004 7:47 AM
"You'd sooner see Michael Moore blowing Donald Rumsfeld than encounter one of these duds"
Anna, I have to tell you, that line is absolutely beautiful. It made me and Amy laugh out loud.
I save my coins too but I think that is the problem; they're just too much of a pain to carry around. I never leave my apartment in the morning with change. I acquire it during the day and can't wait to get home and offload it.
by Ezy at June 16, 2004 2:16 PM
Canada went to dollar and two dollar coins a few years ago. the stated rationelle was that they last longer, and over their lifespan cost the government less to make.
We didn't have a choice in the matter as the bills were quickly taken out of circulation. The coins do have a annoying tendency of weighing you down quickly.
On the plus side, its much easier to save lots of money if you throw all your coin in a jar.
by chuckwoolery at June 16, 2004 4:15 PM
Thanx Ezy. Chuck, how exactly do they go about taking them all out of circulation. Aren't they, like, circulating?
by anna at June 17, 2004 7:49 AM
i would assume they do that via the banks. paper dollars come in, and only dollar coins go back out.
by JC at June 17, 2004 12:42 PM
Also I think Canada is smart enough to realize that employing hookers like banks, would remove many crumpled ones, fivers, and twenties from circluation...fast.
And everyone wins!
by lajoie at June 17, 2004 1:14 PM
I like Lajoie's solution, but no they used the banks. Every dollar bill that came in was sent off to the mint, and only dollar coins went out... Dollar bills largely disappeared from general circulation in well under 6 months. Pay cash at a store, store does bank deposit, and poof gone...
by chuckwoolery at June 18, 2004 4:43 PM