America's money is too expensive. That's essentially what the Government Accountability Office stressed last week to a House subcommittee examining possible changes in America's currency. Paper dollar bills wear out after four or five years, and replacing them with a sturdier coin could save $4.4 billion over the next 30 years. Pennies were not mentioned, but they, too, should get some reconsideration, on cost grounds alone: a single penny costs the government two pennies to make.
Connect With Us on Twitter
For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.
Despite the savings, proposals to retire the dollar bill have met with little public enthusiasm. People have not forgotten the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin that came out more than 30 years ago and failed to wean Americans from the dollar bill because it looked too much like a quarter. Later versions were not much better. And the savings in going to metal would come slowly. The G.A.O. estimates upfront conversion costs of $53 million a year for nearly a decade before the government starts to reap the benefits.
Resistance to junking the penny is even greater. People who would not pick a penny off the sidewalk can still imagine how a jar full of pennies could be converted into serious money. Some fear that sales taxes now measured in cents will force prices up to the nearest nickel. Others bemoan the loss to our language and musical heritage. A dollar for your thoughts? Quarters raining from heaven? More important, the companies that mine the zinc and copper in pennies have friends in Washington.
The Canadians seem to have gotten this issue right. As Beverley Lepine, chief operating officer of the Royal Canadian Mint, said at the House hearing on the dollar coin last week, it took a vigorous campaign explaining how taxpayers would save millions of dollars before the government replaced its $1 bill with a silvery coin known as the "loonie" more than two decades ago. As Washington struggles to cut costs big and small, converting to the dollar coin would be a reasonable way to save money.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Editorial: Cheaper Money
Dengan url
http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2012/12/editorial-cheaper-money.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Editorial: Cheaper Money
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar