To the Editor:
Reader McCarthy makes several valid points. However, the entire concept of currency pre-dates the Romans. The fact that we Americans put any value on currency is purely psychological. This is one of the reasons that our gov’t comes down so hard on counterfeiters.
Benjamin Franklin, who printed currency for the Colony of New Jersey in pre-revolutionary days, was afraid that printing currency by fiat could and would produce worthless paper if the authorizing authority decided to print more than the authority had in its Treasury. (see also: The Crisis of the Third Century when the Roman authorities minted virtually worthless currency to pay their legions. and, “The First American, the Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin”, H.W. Brands, Doubleday 2000)
If anyone has ever been overseas and converted US Currency into the local coinage, it is always strange returning to the States with that “foreign” currency that won’t even buy a half a cup of coffee here.
As to the one-cent coin, which we call the “penny”, my own view is that the actual cost of minting is not a real issue. Trump makes it an issue since he probably won’t consider this entire episode a success unless and until they make a coin with his image on it.
Lawrence M. Cohen
Utica, NY
Lawrence,
Thanks for adding your perspective to this discussion. I hadn’t considered he might be trying to get his face on a coin is another possibility. (Although I’m not sure there’s any denomination under a billion dollars he’d consider worthy of his image.)
That said, my real point is Trump is doing and saying a lot of things that aren’t addressing the lowering the cost of living promise he made to his voters. We can’t let him get away with that.
Mike McCarthy
It feeds the lie of a huge win for Trump. Again, another lie to del legitimize reality of a free and fair election. Objective? Think about it.
Democrats need to wake up, stop crying!
Sorry to hear that upset you Bobo.
Mike,
Do you even know how politics work when it comes to the transition between administrations? It will take Trump 2.5 years to fix the Biden mess. Wait until Vance wins in 2028 and we never see a Democrat in The White House again. It’ll be great. Prices are high because of the Bird Flu. What person goes to the store as a middle upper class person and doesn’t buy eggs because they are $9? I’ve never once looked at prices when I shop for food. Let alone blame a President who has been in office for less than a month. You will see a change in the cost of living by June 2027, this is basic High School Social Studies. You are mad at the cost of living but if Harris won and eggs were still at $9 you would still blame Trump.
Don B.
So why were the prices high before the bird flu? And you do understand the mess that Donald Trump left, that had to be cleaned up. 9% unemployment ,raised the deficit 77%. Now your King Donald ( King of the morons) with all his tariffs and other BS you better be very wealthy to survive. There won’t be any more programs to help you out when you’re down on your luck. And jobs you can forget about that look at how many people are unemployed, fired by him just in the first month. Putin’s poodle like always, is only looking out for himself. You people that voted for him thinking he did something the first time because he said he did, instead of looking at the actual facts….Oh he didn’t take a salary, yeah but he ran up tens of millions of dollars that the taxpayers had to pay for for his secret service staying in this hotels and all is golf outings. He got his daughter patents for her clothing line all over the world using his leverage. He then shut the entire country down after allowing 40,000 people in, when he said the border was closed but it wasn’t. JD Vance has the IQ of a house plant like most Republicans. And remember it wasn’t Landslide ,Trump big win, It was by a few tenths of a percentage point. Basically he pulled it out of his butt. 30% of the country didn’t vote. It’s going to be interesting to see when he runs the country into the ground again how you maga worshipers spin it around and make it look like he’s doing something good. I hope most of you maga individuals who barely survive on your paycheck end up homeless and suffer for voting this moron into office again.
You need to increase your medicine!!!
Just because a critter says you are crying doesn’t mean you are crying. Just a handy thing to say by weak people who do not want to read and think.
MAGA !!!
Thank you, Don B.