This isn't a particularly exciting post, just a follow-up.
A few years ago I wrote The Sound of Many Faucets Running, a look at the new dollar coins. Coins last much longer than bills, y'see, therefore using much less energy to replace, thereby saving the planet from catastrophic meltdown.
While my post was fairly routine, I have to admit that if we had to switch from dollar bills to coins, I thought my idea bordered on the brilliant.
And here we are today:
Inside the Fed’s Vault: $1 Billion Worth of Unused Coins
In the basement of a Baltimore vault the size of a soccer field, 1 billion dollar coins are just sitting there. Thanks, Congress.
And the planet thanks you!
Actually, there appears to be a bit of gray area as to why they tried to foist these on us in the first place. From the original article:
The U.S. Mint is spending about $12 million on a pilot project to promote the presidential dollar coin by appealing to Americans' duty to protect the environment while saving the government money.
But now it's:
NPR’s Planet Money reporters recently investigated the $1 presidential coin program, which was a Congressional effort to get more $1 coins into circulation while also trying to be educational.
That's right, folks. They're educational. We're doing it for the children!
And, of course, it would be downright criminal not to include the Shoshone woman who help guide Lewis & Clark on their expedition:
At the same time, the legislation mandated that a certain number of Sacagawea coins be made in conjunction with the presidential coins, which has now amounted to one Sacagawea for every four presidents.
Spokespersons for the Mohave, Navaho, Pima, Yuma, Washo, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Cree, Crow, Dakota, Osage, Seminole, Comanche, Wichita and Apache tribes could not be reached for comment.
At the moment, the program is still moving forward, and NPR projects that by the time it’s finished, 2 billion coins could be sitting in the Fed’s vaults. Next up for minting is our 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes.
Rutherford B. Hayes? Be still, my beating heart!
