Replies to post #199351 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[SilverSurfer]

I trend trade, swing trade and some day trade but the markets matter little to those being decimated by the endless debt to bail out banksters and Fed cronies, including Europe's....

Americans Raiding 401(k) Accounts To Pay Bills

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/americans-raiding-401k-ac_n_2827607.html

[fuagf]

Zero Hedge is a popular batshit insane finance blog run by an anonymous founder who posts articles under the name "Tyler Durden," after Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club antagonist personality. Tyler claims to be a "believer in a sweeping conspiracy that casts the alumni of Goldman Sachs as a powerful cabal at the helm of U.S. policy, with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve colluding to preserve the status quo." His solution actually mirrors the anatagonist in Fight Club in that Tyler wants to lead a catastrophic market crash in order to destroy banking institutions and bring back "real" free market capitalism.

The only writer very conclusively identified is Dan Ivandjiiski, who conducts public interviews on behalf of Zero Hedge.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge

had that on tab a couple of days ago, don't know if it's a fair/good description or not ..
still dang-batty preoccupied with tiling .. grouting now .. what a nuisance .. hate 'little' stuff .. LOL ..

[fuagf]

The Push to Ditch the Dollar Bill for Coins

June 7, 2013

[image inside]
US dollar bills lie with old coins and currency notes at a money changer booth along a road in Karachi. (Photo: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)

A bipartisan group of senators is reviving an old idea: ditching the US dollar bill. The idea was re-introduced in Congress on Thursday .. http://www.dollarcoinalliance.org/2013/06/06/press-release-bipartisan-coins-act-offers-billions-in-budget-savings/ , with a coalition arguing it’s time the US caught up with the rest of the world.

If you’ve spent any time traveling abroad recently, you’ve likely noticed the trend, and picked up a lot of spare change along the way.

“The 2 euro, the 2 pound coins in England, Switzerland has the 5 franc, Sweden has the 10 krona,” said Aaron Klein, a former deputy assistant secretary with the U.S. Treasury, rattling off a list of nations with larger denomination coins.

Japan has coins as high in value as 500 yen — more than $6.

In the US, the quarter is the largest denomination in wide circulation.

Klein is part of a bipartisan group called the Dollar Coin Alliance .. http://www.dollarcoinalliance.org/ , which wants the US to get in line with the rest of the industrialized world. They argue, while coins cost more to produce, they last more than 30 years. American dollar bills fall apart in a little more than five years, on average.

“According to the Government Accountability Office .. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-164T , it could save $4.4 billion over 30 years,” said Klein. “Other countries, including Canada that have gone through this experience have actually saved far more than the official government estimates, so savings could be even higher.”

Seems like a no-brainer.

But not so fast.

First, it should be said, the bipartisan bill introduced yesterday is authored by senators from mining states like Arizona and Wyoming. Their states stand to benefit from the production of more copper-core coins .. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/golden_dollar_coin/?action=sacdesign .

Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa is a co-author .. http://www.harkin.senate.gov/blogitem.cfm?i=864e5f15-aaff-4397-b2a1-0a9c4102e090 . His state is home to the company PMX .. http://www.ipmx.com/ , which supplies metal alloys to the US mint to help make coins.

Doug Crane represents the paper side of it. He’s with Crane & Company in western Massachusetts. His family has been supplying the paper for our money since the time of Paul Revere.

He said the government will indeed save money by switching to coins, “but it’s based on large costs that are borne by the American public.”

There’s an economics concept called seigniorage. That’s the revenue the government earns by issuing money. (Click here for a detailed explanation from the Bank of Canada.)

Basically, every time the government issues a $1 bill or coin, it invests the proceeds and earns interest. The more hard currency out there, the more interest the government is earning. Now, if we ditch our dollar bills, they’d need to be replaced by a lot of extra coins.

“Because coins sit on bureau tops and get lost in couch cushions and car seats, it takes more coins to do the same job in circulation as a bank note,” said Crane.

According to the Government Accountability Office, it could take 50 percent more coins to replace dollar bills .. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11281.pdf .. taken out of circulation.

And this is how the government could “save” $4.4 billion, with all that extra hard currency out there. And if you and I are then stashing all those new coins in our sock drawers, we’re not earning interest at the bank.

“It’s essentially a tax,” said Crane.

But all of this assumes that we’ll treat dollar coins the same way as nickels and dimes. How do our neighbors to the north do it? Canada hasn’t printed its dollar bill since 1989.

I called John Barber in Toronto, a former columnist with the Globe and Mail, and asked him if just throws his coins in a jar?

“Well I do. There are two jars though. One has the loonies and the toonies, the other has the nickels and dimes and the pennies.”

Loonies and toonies is Canada-speak for $1 and $2 coins. Barber said it’s nice to reach into the jar and quickly fish out $20 bucks.

“The only downside of the dollar coin and two dollar coin is that coins tend to slip out of your pocket. I never gave my children an allowance, because they were always digging $5 and $10 out of the cushions, rather than 50 cents or so, as they used to do.”

Yet another factor for Congress to consider as they debate: coin vs. bill.


Jason Margolis

Jason Margolis is a Boston-based reporter who regularly files stories throughout the U.S.
and abroad about politics, economics, immigration issues, and environmental matters.

[follow Jason .. link inside]

http://www.theworld.org/2013/06/the-push-to-ditch-the-dollar-bill-for-coins/

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Making Money by Making Money

December 5, 2011


Jason Margolis and Doug Crane inspecting paper that will become $100 bills. (Photo: Peter Hopkins)

Billions of dollars, euros and yen zap around the globe electronically in milliseconds these
days. That’s the way that modern economies work. But there’s still a need for cold, hard cash.

More: http://www.theworld.org/2011/12/making-money-by-making-money/

.. Australia has $1 and $2 coins .. no prize for guessing which is smaller in size .. it's great when the "jar" is full .. :)

[sortagreen]

That's really good.