My favorite parts, though, are these:
"It is no accident that the United States is without a dollar unit coin. In recent years the Eisenhower dollar coin received widespread acceptance, but the Treasury minted them in limited number which encouraged hoarding. This same fate befell the Kennedy half-dollars, which circulated as silver sandwiched clads between 1965 and 1969, and were hoarded for their intrinsic value and not spent. Next came the Susan B. Anthony dollar, an awkward coin which was instantly rejected as planned."
"The remaining unit is the privately issued Federal Reserve note unit dollar with no viable competitors. Back in 1935 the Fed had persuaded the Treasury to discontinue minting silver dollars because the public preferred them over dollar bills. That the public money system has become awkward, discouraging its use, is no accident. It was planned that way."
This is almost too easy. The Ike dollar, despite high mintages, failed to achieve wide circulation for the same reason as the old silver dollars -- they were too big and clunky to use in everyday commerce, and except in the West tended to stay in bank vaults (which is why so many survive today in high grades). If they were hoarded, it was because of a phenomenon which I've seen over the last 50 years: if an American sees an unusual coin, he or she thinks "I have not seen this coin before. Therefore, it is rare. therefore, it will be 'worth money' someday. Therefore, I should save as many of them as I can get." My local coin dealer has lost track of how many times people have come into his store, bearing rolls or bags of Ike dollars, Bicentennial coins, 50-state quarters and the like, expecting to leave the store with a fat check. They are shocked when, because of the hassle in handling these, he won't even offer them face value in exchange.These days, I regularly see high-grade 50-state quarters and even Bicentennial quarters in change, spent by the would-be rich. We also had silver certificates circulating alongside the FRNs for many years; and between 1933 (at the latest) and 1963, the only $1 bills in circulations were SCs. I didn't see my first $1 FRN until the fall of 1963.
The Susan B. Anthony dollar was doomed when, due to lobbying from the vending machine industry, the proposed 11-sided design was scrapped and replaced by a round design, making the coin almost impossible to distinguish from a quarter solely by touch. The new "golden dollars" have plain or lettered edges which were meant to eliminate this problem; but people confuse them with quarters that have worn reeding on their edges.
The second paragraph is even more laughable. As I pointed our earlier, actual silver dollars were not popular, outside the West, except as birthday or other presents Mintage was ceased for no other reason besides the real one -- namely, that the Mint had run out of silver with which to mint them. Yes, they had plenty of silver on hand; but they couldn't mint silver dollars without the consent of Congress (Article I, Section 8, y'know). That's why there are no silver dollars with dates from 1905-1920 and 1929-1933; and that's also why the 1964-D silver dollars never made it into production after trial strikes were made.
Then, there is this:
"The Fed maintain a ready supply of United States notes in hundred dollar denominations for redemption purposes should it be required, and coins are available to satisfy claims for smaller amounts."
Um... no. There used to be $100 USNs in various vaults, which were "circulated" by moving the pallets of wrapped notes from Point A to Point B in the warehouse; but as this link shows, the $100 USNs were destroyed some 20 years ago:
http://www.moneyfactory.gov/historicallegislation.html
As for the coins: yes, if you want to "redeem" your FRN, you can go to the bank and request coins in exchange; but good luck getting silver coins from the teller.
It's so sad to see someone, especially one who has an innocent newborn baby in his house, take the first sips of Merrillian kool-aid....
