Some more proposals for the circular file
Drago the Wolf
to the Big Man himself. The Secretary of the Treasury.
(I almost wasn't going to mention $200 and $500 bills, but where's the
fun in that? I'd rather suggest EVERYTHING that NEEDS to be done.)
Anyway, enjoy, and insult as much as you like, but I think these are
very good ideas.
Ha Ha Ha Haaaaa!!!
START
To the Honorable Timothy F. Geithner,
I have an idea, and a couple possible suggestions to better the
acceptance of U.S. coins and currency, and to help save money for
businesses and the U.S. government in the process.
The first issue I wanted to address was half dollar coins and $2
Federal Reserve notes. As you may know, there are not many vending
machines that accept $2 bills, but such machines are not programmed to
dispense this denomination, and rarely any machine is fitted to accept
and/or dispense halves.
This issue should be addressed, and if possible, a law should be
passed to require vendors to retool and reprogram their machines to
take the 50 cent and $2 denominations, as both of these denominations,
halves are still being minted, and $2 bills are still being printed,
and are thus, still legal tender forms of payments. These two
denominations should not be retired just because of being rarely used,
but should be given as change from cashiers, and vending machines
should be programmed to both, accept and dispense these two
denominations.
My conclusion for the successful circulation and acceptance of the 50
cent and $2 denominations, is to get vending machines, such as
government U.S. Postal Service stamp machines and self-checkout
machines at local retailers to accept and dispense these two odd
denominations, and if people receive halves and $2 bills in change,
they would likely be hoarded at first, however, as more and more of
these two denominations begin to flood the U.S. currency pipeline,
more and more people would give up on hoarding, and start spending
these denominations regularly. From my understanding, almost no one is
going to go out of their way to ask for halves or $2 bills, and banks
simply do not hand these denominations out automatically, and only
when they are requested, due to fearing a complaint that a half or $2
bill is not “real money”. Even some, if not all vending machines being
programmed to accept these two denominations would remedy that
problem. The U.S. citizens want coins and currency notes that actually
work in vending machines, and are dispensed from vending machines in
every day use. The main vending machines that should be retooled for
halves and $2 bills would be self-checkouts, which are the most common
used vending or money accepting machines, in most people’s everyday
life.
Why the need to get the American public to accept half dollar coins
and $2 Federal Reserve notes?
Cost. It would save the government money, if the U.S. Mint could cut
the production of quarter dollar coins and the BEP could cut the
production of $1 Federal Reserve notes in half.
Inflation. One quarter or one $1 bill does not go as for as it used
to, to buy items for such ammounts.
HALVES: I see many gum ball and other machines that are now 50 cents,
but are set up to take two quarters at the same time, instead of one
half. These machines have twice the potential to have the machine jam
up. If even one of the quarter slots jam up the vendor has to come out
and fix the problem, costing him money and a waste of time. These
machines should be upgraded to take halves, not only to be more
efficient to customers, but also, to cut down on the amounts of coins
needed to be stored in vending machine change tubes, compared to twice
as many quarters, and thus, less need for vendors to come out and
empty their coin tubes.
Bottom line: The quarter’s value and purchasing power has deteriorated
over the past few decades, and the U.S. now needs a coin with higher
buying power to be the workhorse of the U.S. coinage system. While the
$1 coin replacing the $1 bill would be the ideal solution, even better
than replacing the quarter’s job with the half, the majority of the
U.S. general public continues to show opposition toward retiring the
$1 bill. Due to this issue, the half dollar should take the quarter
dollar’s place as the largest circulating coin denomination, for
general circulation. Most cash registers do have a slot meant for
halves, as most are five slots, thus coin slots can be set up as: 1c,
5c, 10c, 25c, and 50c. Halves did circulate for a time, but have since
fell short, and now, with inflation at its worst, the time has come to
revive this denomination.
$2 BILLS: The $1 bill, like the quarter dollar coin, does not go as
far as it used to, to make the purchases it was once widely used for,
which prompted the U.S. Treasury to reissue the $2 bill, all the way
back in 1976, not only for the Bicentennial of the Declaration of
Independence, but also, to cut back the workload, amount of $1 bills
printed, and wear and tear on the $1 bill. Now, over three decades
later, those $1 bills are seeing much more use and wearing out to need
replaced even more than back in 1976 when the $2 bill was reintroduced
to help with production costs of $1 bills. Due to inflation, the
demand for the $2 bill is steadily rising in some areas of the United
States as people are getting more and more comfortable with $2 bills
as the new workhorse of the currency side of U.S. money. As with the
half, most cash registers have slots meant for $2 bills: $1, $2, $5,
$10, $20, with $50 and $100 bills under cash drawer or under the $20
bills.
My other idea that should be suggested for the U.S. currency system,
is raising the printing and circulation of $2 bills is not the only
way to help cut down on the wear and tear of the $1 bill. The $1 bill,
as well as all other denominations of U.S. currency can, and should be
shifted away from the current cotton/linen composition, and replaced
with polymer plastic notes, as some other major countries already
have done. Not only is polymer more sanitary to handle, but, polymer
banknotes last up to four times as long as cotton/linen banknote do,
and with the general public’s continued strong opposition to replacing
the $1 bill with a longer lasting $1 coin, which lasts 30 years or so,
a polymer $1 bill would last about 6 years as opposed to cotton/linen
notes that last about 18 months, or 1 ½ years. This move alone would
save the government millions of dollars, and even more if polymer $2
bills widely circulated, as well as polymer $5-$100 bills which,
unlike cotton/linen bills, the polymer can be recycled into new
banknotes after being worn out, from everyday use, where cotton/linen
banknote simply must be destroyed and discarded in landfills to
unnecessarily pollute more.
Bottom line: Inflation has caused the $1 Federal Reserve note to
receive excessive use in everyday transactions, causing $1 bills to
wear out and need replacing, at a growing rate, and with the general
public’s continued opposition to replacing the $1 bill with the dollar
coin, it would seem very practical, and save hundreds of millions of
dollars to have all polymer U.S. Federal Reserve notes, including a
widely circulating polymer $2 bill, to take some of the workload off
of the $1 denomination, and thus, $1, and $2 bills would last 6 years
or likely even longer, as would other denominations last longer.
Please take these ideas into consideration to get a widely circulating
half dollar coin, and $2 bill, as well as converting all U.S. Federal
Reserve notes from their current, obsolete cotton/linen composition,
to the more sanitary, recyclable, longer lasting, and more durable
polymer plastic banknotes. With a widely circulating half, we will see
savings on minting quarters, and widely circulating polymer $2 bills,
and all denominations of U.S. currency being converted to polymer
plastic banknotes, we will see less production of especially $1, $2
and $5 bills, which $1 and $5 bills normally wear out within 1 ½ years
or so.
Also, would you please consider a redesign of the half dollar coin and
the $2 bill, to sort of refresh these two mostly forgotten
denominations? A new look for the half and $2 bill could help with
their acceptance and a redesigned NexGen $2 bill conforming the $5-
$100 bills, with a large portrait of President Thomas Jefferson, a
simplified border, with more white space on both sides, and some color
on the obverse, I suggest a bluish green scroll, to represent Liberty
in the form of the Declaration of Independence to the right of
President Jefferson’s portrait, as well as a watermark, a security
thread that glows a certain color under ultraviolet light, and a low-
vision numeral 2 on the reverse between the size of the new $5 bill
huge purple low-vision 5, and the past $5 bill‘s smaller low-vision 5,
would be easier to tell from a current $1 bill. These features will
prevent counterfeiters from bleaching $2 bills and printing pre-1990
$5-$100 bills on the genuine currency paper, which would evade a
counterfeit pen test. Also since Congress opposes redesigning the $1
bill, due to the costs to small businesses and the vending industry,
the $2 bill should be redesigned to a style similar to the NexGen $5
bill, and with the same security features that the NexGen $5 bill has,
and although the $1 bill can not be redesigned, there should still be
a splash of color, a security thread that glows a certain color under
ultraviolet light and a distinguishable watermark added to the $1
bill, to prevent counterfeiters from bleaching a $1 bill, and printing
a pre-1990 $5-$100 bill on the genuine currency paper that, like a
bleached $2 bill, would evade a counterfeit pen test. These features
should only be added to the $1 bill if it does not require vendors to
upgrade. And the $2 bill should be redesigned, and vendors should be
encouraged to upgrade all of their machines that can be upgraded to
take the redesigned $2 bills. As for a redesigned half dollar coin,
maybe the Mint could start a new half dollar series similar to the
State, Territory, and National Parks Quarters, Bicentennial Lincoln
Cents and Presidential and Native American $1 Coin series. There
should also be a redesign of the dime. Then the only denomination of
U.S. Legal Tender to not be redesigned, would be the $1 bill. However,
I really wish that the Congress and Treasury could find a way to make
a $1 bill redesign work. However, an addition of color, a watermark
and a security thread to the $1 bill would satisfy me.
One final thing I would like to suggest is, the issuance of a new $200
Federal Reserve note, and a reissue of the $500 Federal Reserve note.
Due to inflation, a $100 bill, back in July 14, 1969, when the $500,
$1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills were discontinued, due to lack of
use, that $100 bill was worth more than what $500 is worth, today. And
if we had $100 bills back in 1969, can’t we have $500 bills, now in
2009, or around 2010? Also, even $500 doesn’t go far these days. And
since the Euro countries has 200 and 500 Euro notes, with the 500 Euro
being worth over $800 U.S. and I have been seeing articles about other
countries issuing and/or reissuing their larger denomination currency
notes, why can’t the U.S. have $200 and $500 bills? I know that there
are concerns about drug dealers, money launderers, counterfeiters and
such crime doers using $500 bills in their criminal activity, but
can’t we think of the good, honest citizens that will use $200 and
$500 bills, who just happen to want to use cash to buy that big screen
tv without messing around with credit or debit cards or checks, or to
buy that boat, rv or car from a private seller? Or perhaps for those
who win jackpots and are given a check, and they wish to have all big
bills? My mother has won a few progressive bingo jackpots for just
over $2,000, and when she cashed the check, she wanted all big bills,
and even those 20 some $100 bills were a pain to have to handle, and
more noticeable to muggers than four $500 bills and one or a couple
$200 bills to pay for the extra $200 or so over the $2,000 she won
would be. My mother would use $200 bills regularly, due to the prices
of groceries and other store items, and would even find a $500 bill
handy around the holidays. Also, printing $200 and $500 bills would
help the government save money, due to the fact that the demand for
$100 bills is steadily rising, especially overseas, and the U.S. has
already printed more $100 bills this year than they planned to print
for this year. So I figure, why not cut those printing costs and all
that time printing $500 bills to keep up with the $100 bill demand,
and $200 bills to lessen the needed productions for $100 bills that
would otherwise be needed to make change for $500 bills. With the time
saved on printing $200 and $500 bills to cut down on the time for
printing $100 bills, the Treasury and BEP can clear up some money
printing time and concentrate and focus on other important issues. The
U.S. Dollar is weakening with the $100 Federal Reserve note being such
a smaller denomination than the 500 Euro note, so action should be
taken on these issues.
Thank You for your time reading this, and considering my ideas. With
these ideas put into action, I believe we could see a large savings on
production of all U.S coins and currency, as well as from businesses
and vendors handling less, more bulky certain denominations as the
quarter dollar and $1 Federal Reserve note. And Printing larger
denomination Federal Reserve notes will also help save the government
money, and keep U.S. currency as the most desired currency to use and
stash away as a strong store of wealth, in the world.
Sincerely,
END
As I said, as long as I get a reply, even in a form letter, they are
still fun to read. And I could care two shits less if the proposal
goes into the garbage can or not. At least my ideas will be heard.
Tom
Mr. Jaggers
> This is my latest proposal. Only its not going to Congress. Its going
> to the Big Man himself. The Secretary of the Treasury.
>
> (I almost wasn't going to mention $200 and $500 bills, but where's the
> fun in that? I'd rather suggest EVERYTHING that NEEDS to be done.)
>
> Anyway, enjoy, and insult as much as you like, but I think these are
> very good ideas.
>
> Ha Ha Ha Haaaaa!!!
>
>
> START
>
> To the Honorable Timothy F. Geithner,
>
> I have an idea, and a couple possible suggestions to better the
> acceptance of U.S. coins and currency, and to help save money for
> businesses and the U.S. government in the process.
>
> The first issue I wanted to address was half dollar coins and $2
> Federal Reserve notes. As you may know, there are not many vending
> machines that accept $2 bills, but such machines are not programmed to
> dispense this denomination, and rarely any machine is fitted to accept
> and/or dispense halves.
>
> This issue should be addressed, and if possible, a law should be
> passed to require vendors to retool and reprogram their machines
> As I said, as long as I get a reply, even in a form letter, they are
> still fun to read. And I could care two shits less if the proposal
> goes into the garbage can or not. At least my ideas will be heard.
>
> Tom
You may indeed get a form letter reply, but that does not mean your ideas
have been "heard", it means only that they have been "received" and
"processed." The probability that anyone in the government or even here on
rcc will take the time to read your entire letter approaches zero, first
because of its length (longer than one side of one leaf of standard
letterhead), second because early on you state that "a law should be passed
to require vendors to retool and reprogram their machines." In fact, I
predict that is exactly where the government official or functionary will
stop reading, so that is where I have stopped quoting. No matter how
brilliant you think your content is, it will not survive triage.
All successful businesses attach a standard monetary value to the processing
of each piece of communication that comes their way, and it is a lot more
than you imagine. I suggest you find some other form of entertainment, as
what you are doing is costing all of us - including yourself - money.
James the Taxpayer
oly
>
> - Show quoted text -
It seems to me that the bureaucrat who opens the letter and places it
in the waste can will be in the office, getting paid, regardless of
whether or not they are slicing open an envelope or just twidling
their thumbs. I simply can't imagine the U.S. Treasury worrying about
the costs of processing a letter. You don't have to worry about that
when you have the power to create whatever money you need, out of the
pure ether.
The real thing the OP needs to worry about is the possibility that the
recipients of his idiotic letters are building a file on him, waiting
for him to cross over the line with an actual or implied threat.
oly
Mr. Jaggers
I didn't say that the U.S. Treasury was "worrying" about the costs of
processing a letter. I stated that they monetize the costs, and therefore
are aware of what they are. And how many form letters does the USPS have to
carry for free before they decide that they need to increase the cost of a
Forever stamp for everybody? When, as you properly observe, the gummint
does deem it time to fire up the printing presses to cover their increased
costs, they certainly don't export that tab to China, now, do they?
If the OP actually sends all the letters he regales us with here, it is
indeed likely that a crankfile with his name on it is being assembled as we
speak.
James of Oceania
David Farmer
"Drago the Wolf" <malanu...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:fdc5da39-7eab-4a1f...@j39g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
This is my latest proposal. Only its not going to Congress. Its going
to the Big Man himself. The Secretary of the Treasury.
(I almost wasn't going to mention $200 and $500 bills, but where's the
fun in that? I'd rather suggest EVERYTHING that NEEDS to be done.)
Anyway, enjoy, and insult as much as you like, but I think these are
very good ideas.
Ha Ha Ha Haaaaa!!!
START
To the Honorable Timothy F. Geithner,
I fear that in the future there will be less printed money and coins and
more electronic "money" transfers.
Even as a coin collector my preferred method of payment is with a credit
card. More protection for the buyer.
Dave
oly
>
> - Show quoted text -
The Treasury is probably especially sensitive to any crank letters to
the current Secretary, given Mr. Geithner's well-publicized aversion
for paying proper income taxes while working at the International
Monetary Fund.
oly
oly
>
> - Show quoted text -
P.S. I've always prefered "Down and Out in Paris and London" to
"1984".
oly
Mr. Jaggers
Me, too.
James
Dave Allured
>
> This is my latest proposal. Only its not going to Congress. Its going
> to the Big Man himself. The Secretary of the Treasury.
> Why the need to get the American public to accept half dollar coins
> and $2 Federal Reserve notes?
>
> Cost. It would save the government money, if the U.S. Mint could cut
> the production of quarter dollar coins and the BEP could cut the
> production of $1 Federal Reserve notes in half.
>
> Inflation. One quarter or one $1 bill does not go as for as it used
> to, to buy items for such ammounts.
How do you feel about eliminating pennies and nickels, or introducing a
$5 coin?
--Dave
Jerry Dennis
> This is my latest proposal. Only its not going to Congress. Its going
> to the Big Man himself. The Secretary of the Treasury.
>
> (I almost wasn't going to mention $200 and $500 bills, but where's the
> fun in that? I'd rather suggest EVERYTHING that NEEDS to be done.)
>
> Anyway, enjoy, and insult as much as you like, but I think these are
> very good ideas.
>
> Ha Ha Ha Haaaaa!!!
>
> START
>
>
> END
>
> As I said, as long as I get a reply, even in a form letter, they are
> still fun to read. And I could care two shits less if the proposal
> goes into the garbage can or not. At least my ideas will be heard.
>
> Tom
Your letter will get one insignificant bureaucrat to read it and
someone will tell him/her, "Send form reply #4." You've managed to
write a letter under the old military letter-writing theory... Don't
say in one paragraph what you can say in ten pages. I should know. I
used to be one of those bureaucratic writers.
If you want serious consideration for your thoughts, KISS.
Jerry