How You Can Help Your Country: "Gold" Dollars

Becket Adams reports on a dead-easy way you can help the United States save money:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/congress-hey-lets-get-rid-of-1-bills-and-replace-them-with-coins/

What's missing from this story is not comments from people who enjoy carrying around wads of paper money--there are plenty of those, and I'm not saying the government should stop printing paper bills--but comments from people who LIKE "gold dollars." I am one of those people.

I can't figure out the people who say the dollar coins are too easily mistaken for quarters. Have youall actually used one of the recent gold-toned dollar coins with either Sacagawea or a past president on them? They're bigger than quarters, they're heavier than quarters, they're a different color from quarters, and they have smooth edges (quarters have what coin collectors call "milled" edges). I do remember a silver-tone dollar coin, with Susan B. Anthony on it, that could easily be mistaken for a quarter, but I think all of those things are in collectors' frames by now.

Don't like carrying coins in your pockets? Well, most banks now issue debit cards, which are just an electronic version of writing cheques, and most businesses that process large amounts of money in a single transaction are prepared to accept debit cards. (This web site maintains that amounts of money lower than $500 should always be paid in cash, but some businesses that employ untrustworthy cashiers disagree.)

The U.S. Mint is not proposing to stop printing bills for amounts of money that would become hard to carry around in coins. They're not even proposing to discontinue the five-dollar bill. So, if your pocket full of coins becomes heavy, you could always trade extra dollar coins for a $5, $10, or $20 bill.

But you don't like coins, period, you say? Bah, humbug! This web site can see right through you...the computer can. Your problem is not coins, it's flab. Start walking to and from work, and before you know it you'll be able to reach into your pockets for coins comfortably.