A Dollar & A Dollar & A Penny

I go to the bank periodically and buy rolls of the “gold” dollars, and keep them in the glove compartment of the car to use for paying tolls. It is handier than unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching into my pocket for money. 
But now there is a new wrinkle: the bank told me they can no longer get the gold dollars, and if I wanted a dollar coin, I would have to accept the great big Eisenhower dollars from them. So I did. The problem with that is, the toll machines don’t take those big dollars; they were configured to accept the smaller gold dollars – which to repeat, I cannot get my hands on.
I have to admit, I have been spoiled, having  grown old in a nation which has been the envy of world for its efficiency and ability to do things so competently that the majority of Americans were able to live, not only comfortably, but increasingly so with each passing year. Now, it seems, we are losing that capability.
The coins are a miniscule case in point. The manufacturers of coin vending devices were told that our government would be minting small dollar coins of a certain specification, and manufacturers should coordinate their machines to match; so they did. The problem is, unlike in Canada, the coins never attained broad circulation, despite the fact that it would save our government a lot of money due to the fact that coins last many years and bills wear out quickly.  We used to wear out our coins because they had value, and could actually buy things; today they are a nuisance. Coins of value could again find favor with us, just as they do in other countries.
I know, it is a little thing, but it represents waste, and I was warned not to waste. Not only are the vending machines and the available dollars mismatched, our national mints continue to crank out coins which in some measure are more of an impediment to commerce than an aid. Tell me honestly, what do you do with the pennies you receive in change? You either put then into a jar, or you waste your time counting them back out to the store clerk. I say, wasting your time because nothing costs a penny any more.  So what is the purpose of the penny if you have to use a handful of them to buy anything; why not just mint a coin that represents all those pennies? The Mint could save $53 million if it eliminated the penny, which Canada, Australia and other countries have done.
Did you know that the U.S. discontinued the half cent coin in 1857; it wasn’t needed any more. Why don’t we discontinue the penny? To add insult to injury, it costs us 1.7 cents to mint one penny. So every one we mint not only wastes our time, it wastes our tax dollars.
It is a little thing, but it is indicative of a very big thing – willingness or incompetence on the part of our federal government to waste our time and money. This willingness or incompetence has reduced the average rate of growth of our economy from 3.5 percent to 2 percent annually, which we are now being told is the new normal, and to just get used to it. At 2 percent our economy grows too slowly to create new jobs for all of the young people entering the workforce. Not only do they not have employment, a slowly-growing economy keeps wages down for everybody else due to tepid demand for workers.
Let’s not allow anybody or anything to diminish our hopes for and love for our wonderful nation — rather, let’s resolve to do ever more to strengthen it.
Art Hall
From the Bible:  This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16