Friday, December 16, 2011
President Chester A. Arthur
Saying there’s no point wasting money to make money, the Obama administration has decided to cancel production of commemorative presidential one dollar coins as part of its efforts to reduce government spending.
The U.S Mint is expected to save about $50 million a year by not making the special coins.
Since a 2005 law went into effect mandating the production of four new commemorative presidential coins a year, a total of 20 presidents have been honored, including Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield from the 19th century.
But many of the coins are sitting in government warehouses due to lack of demand, said Vice President Joe Biden. “It will shock you all: the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there,” he told a group of reporters.
Coin enthusiasts criticized the move, saying if the government really wanted to save money, it would stop printing $1 bills and replace them with coins. They point to a Government Accountability Office report that said going this route would save $184 million annually and $5.5 billion over 30 years.
Pro-coin advocates are joined by those groups that profit from coinmaking, such as the mining, brass and copper industries and the United Steelworkers union.
It is unclear what will become of the First Spouse Gold Coin Series. The most recent release, on December 1, was the coin honoring Lucretia Garfield, who was First Lady for six months.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Production of Commemorative Coins Scrapped to Save Money (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post)
Groups Pans Obama’s Plan to Scrap $1 Coins (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post)
Producing Pennies and Nickels Costs More Than Their Worth (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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