Chapter 48

Our currency, does it need a revamp?

Penny’s (one cent coins) make absolutely no sense in today’s economy. The small cent was introduced in 1856, almost 160 years ago. I cannot find reliable inflation stats prior to 1914, but assuming there was zero inflation from 1856 to 1914 a dime would still have had less purchasing power in 1985 than a penny in 1856 (or 1914). Both pennies and nickels are useless and a waste of money. Another glaring deficiency is in our use of paper currency, specifically the dollar. Using the above inflation stats the purchasing power of today’s dollar as compared to the 1914 dollar is just over 8 cents! To further compound the issue for the tax payer is that paper money is more expensive to produce. Yes, the initial cost of production for paper vs. metal is lower, but when the life of the currency is factored (coins last 20 – 40 times as long as paper) the ongoing cost is many times higher with paper. We should have abolished the dollar bill many years ago. Our limited efforts with a dollar coin have been laughable. The way you make it work is to introduce the $1 coin with a deadline on the use of the paper. I might be so bold as to suggest that we take one additional step and replace the $5 bill also with a coin. After all, in terms of 1914 purchasing power the $5 coin would only represent 42 cents.