Thursday - December 20, 2012

Even Cliched Adages Don’t Work For The Government

You’ve heard that old expression “you’ve got to spend money to make money”? This hoary old chestnut has been taken to absurd extremes by the US Government, where it somehow costs them more money to make and distribute our coins than the coins are worth. Sweet.

When it comes to making coins, the Mint isn’t getting its two cents worth. In some cases, it doesn’t even get half of that.

A penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. The quandary is how to make coins more cheaply without sparing our change’s quality and durability, or altering its size and appearance.

A 400-page report presented last week to Congress outlines nearly two years of trials conducted at the Mint in Philadelphia, where a variety of metal recipes were put through their paces in the massive facility’s high-speed coin-making machinery.

Evaluations of 29 different alloys concluded that none met the ideal list of attributes. The Treasury Department concluded that additional study was needed before it could endorse any changes.

What more do you need to read? You’ve got to wonder how much coin was spent on that TWO YEAR study, which had the typical, worthless, bureaucratic bottom line that more studying was needed.

What a load of copper crapper.

The government has been looking for ways to shave the millions it spends every year to make bills and coins. Congressional auditors recently suggested doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins, which they concluded could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over three decades. Canada is dropping its penny as part of an austerity budget.

...

A slight reduction in the nickel content of our quarters, dimes and nickels would bring some cost savings while keeping the magnetic characteristics the same. Making more substantial changes, like switching to steel or other alloys with different magnetic properties, could mean big savings to the government but at a big cost to coin-op businesses, Peterson said.

The vending industry estimates it would cost between $700 million and $3.5 billion to recalibrate machines to recognize coins with an additional magnetic signature. The Mint’s researchers reached a lower but still pricey estimate of $380 million to $630 million.

Only four of the 80 metals on the periodic table - aluminum, iron (used to make steel), zinc and lead - cost less than copper and nickel, the report stated. Lead isn’t an option because of its potential health hazards.

...

Concurrent Technologies Corp., a Pennsylvania-based scientific research and development company, is working with the Mint on the alternative materials study under a $1.5 million contract awarded in 2011.

Sure, the mint needed to outsource their metals study. Because, you know, they know nothing about metals, and haven’t looked at alternate materials to make coins from ever. Not even in WWII, when nickels were made from aluminum.

It’s rather dark humor that the mint is capable of nickel and diming itself to death by producing those very coins. Pretty sure I read all about this in a Terry Pratchett book a couple years ago.

Hey government, you want the solution? Fix the damn economy (by getting the hell out of the way, and by stopping this dingdong Quantitative Easement garbage) and the value of our money will increase. “Strip” some of those horrendous EPA regulations and we can mine more of these metals. More metal = less demand = falling prices. Oh, and FIRE your money haulers. I’ll bet you ... a roll of nickels! ... that some non-union types can do the job for a whole lot less.

Oh, and from now on I’m going to try to get all my change in nickels, kind of like those bars in Texas and elsewhere that only gives change in $2 bills*.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/20/2012 at 02:53 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Government •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner