Family Life

10.25.11 | Sarah Harnisch

   A proposal to do away with a 1-dollar bill and replace it with a 1-dollar coin is gaining steam in Washington. It was a supercommittee recommendation to scrap the bill and replace it with a coin. If the government does it, it will save 5-billion-dollars, because though minting coins costs more then printing paper money, it eventually saves money. Paper currency lasts about 42 months, while coins theoretically last forever. Lobbying interests on both sides are ramping up-- in the expectation that Congress could decide the issue after more then 25-years of debate. Mining interests, vending companies, and mass transit agencies support the coin. Paper and ink producers and small retailers oppose it.  We could hear the supercommittee's decision-- as early as November 23rd.