gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (US Flag)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2011-01-15 01:19 pm
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Maybe a nickel. A dime at most.

Most Americans have noticed that the US Treasury has gone mad for new and improved currency designs over the last decade or so. The biggest changes have been in our paper currency; which I'm told are so profound that some people refuse to accept as real money. Fine give it to me.

But change has also come to our coins. Look closely, and the penny and nickel both sport new looks. Of course everyone has seen all the state quarters. I like variety in the money. I just wish ours was as useful as Canada's currency. Not once during our time in Montreal was I ever confused by the currency, or overburdened with Loonies and Toonies.

I just like typing Loonies and Toonies. I'd sit here and chant it, but Kirsten would kill me, and we're having chili tonight. I don't want to die before that.

In what I hope is a precursor to eliminating the venerable dollar bill, the US Mint is releasing a series of Presidential dollar coins. Makes me wonder if the eventual $2 coin will have Vice-Presidents on them. But still, it's a neat series. I have one of them in front of me right now.

William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States. The oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence. Brilliant military commander, frontiersman, scholar, lectured Simón Bolívar on the importance of democracy, and dropped dead after 32 days in office. Of pneumonia. Which he got by reading his two-hour inaugural address on a wet, cold, miserable day without coat or hat. It should be noted he was 68 at this time. He was almost immediately taken ill, and his only real act as President was to call a special session of Congress. Big whoop. He died April 4th, 1841, making John Tyler the President. Tyler, a political hack, was one of the leading causes of the eventual Civil War.

If this moron had said "You know, it's freezing and spitting rain, I'll forgo the speech and just pass it out to the press, let's get to the White House and warm up" things might have been very different.

But President for 32 days? Put him on a nickel.

[identity profile] netquiddler.livejournal.com 2011-01-15 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't be opposed to a $1 and $2 coin, if they get rid of the $1 and $2 bill. I'd also reintroduce the $500 bill.

Can I persuade for pink $5s, yellow $10s, green $20s, blue $50s, tan $100s, and orange $500s?

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
Only if I get to be the top hat.
ext_73044: Tinkerbell (Flashing Tink)

[identity profile] lisa-marli.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
The presidential nickles are strange. The Mint is hoping they will be as collectible as the quarters but no one cares for the presidents the way they care about the state they live in. I still wonder if they will be able to get past Kennedy?
After dealing with $1 coins in other countries, and now that we have a Proper $1 coin, ie different color, feel and look than the quarter, I would be happy to get rid of the $1 paper bill.
And anything that makes the paper bills look different, like color!, I am all for as well. Money should not be confusing.

[identity profile] cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
I, by contrast, am just OCD enough to want all of my money to look (almost) exactly the same. I also don't like the heaviness of a pocketful of coins. The elimination of the $1 bill in favor of a coin would probably just finalize my conversion to full cashless/debit.

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That was my concern when we went to Montreal, but in reality it doesn't happen. I think the most I had in dollar coins at any time was six dollars (1 $2 and 4 $1s) and a quick visit to Couche-Tard took care of that. That's one advantage of coins.. you are aware of them so they don't just live in your wallet taking up space. I saw a lot of people trading in Loonies and Toonies to merchants for a fiver, which seems to me to be an excellent deal all around.

[identity profile] jursamaj.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait... you're saying an *advantage* of coins is that they make you want to spend them? :)

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2011-01-16 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep! Economic stimulus as you walk!