New three dollar coin released

[soupcxan]

[retire@40]

Which makes me wonder why we don't have one world currency at this point.

Wouldn't life be easier?

[retire48in2018]

that's funny...

[ziggy29]

The U.S. actually made $3 coins from 1854 to 1889. They were small and they were gold. They're worth anywhere from $2,000 on up to hundreds of thousands today -- at least the genuine ones.

[DblDoc]

I saw something today about the mint switching alloys again to cut the cost of making pennies and nickels by about $100m a year. Wonder if they will resurrect the idea of dropping paper $1 bills and mint $1 and $2 coins instead.

DD

[bpp3]

And here's your new 10-dollar bill:





(Or flashback to 1995, if you prefer.)

[bosco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retire@40 Which makes me wonder why we don't have one world currency at this point. Wouldn't life be easier?

I'm guessing the answer is because nations that are relatively fiscally responsible (i.e. Canada and much of Europe) would not want to suffer the consequences of those irresponsible nations that run huge deficits and inflate their money supply....

a world currency would be like sacrificing part of a nation's sovereignty to those with little or no self-control.

Unless, of course, the ability to print money did not reside in said irresponsible nations. I'm sure such nation(s) would agree not that--NOT.

[retire@40]

Could be, but isn't the US Dollar already used in some other countries (Mexico comes to mind) as an accepted form of currency? And, don't some other countries peg their currency to the US dollar anyway?

A merging of the Dollar and the Euro (maybe call it the "Dollero") might strengthen the economies of the countries that use both of those currencies.

[bosco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retire@40 Could be, but isn't the US Dollar already used in some other countries (Mexico comes to mind) as an accepted form of currency? And, don't some other countries peg their currency to the US dollar anyway? A merging of the Dollar and the Euro (maybe call it the "Dollero") might strengthen the economies of the countries that use both of those currencies.

They may take Yankee dollars in Mexico, but they don't take them at a fixed exchange rate. If the dollar tanks, you can be sure you will get less pesos for your dollar. I think you are right about some countries pegging their currency to the dollar, but I don't think it is true of any major currencies.

A merging of the Dollar and the Euro would probably be good--for the country owning the weaker currency. If America can always buy European goods at a price that is essentially fixed against the Euro, then why not just create more Dollars and just buy all of Europe? In other words, such an arrangement would seem to require constraints on the ability to unilaterally create money by any party to the agreement. Such constraints would likely be viewed as an infringement on sovereignty. It would seem that for this to work, all countries involved would have to agree on such a framework, and on how the money supply would be controlled. In other words, teamwork between nations would be needed. Not always an easy thing to come by, especially the last 7 years or so.

In the past there has been talk in Canada of a merging of currencies with the US. That talk seems to have noticeably lessened in the last couple of years.....

[Maurice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retire@40 Could be, but isn't the US Dollar already used in some other countries (Mexico comes to mind) as an accepted form of currency? And, don't some other countries peg their currency to the US dollar anyway?

In Mexico its only accepted in tourist areas.


Ecuador and Panama are dollarized.

[megacorp-firee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maurice In Mexico its only accepted in tourist areas. Ecuador and Panama are dollarized.

Not pegged, but the dollar is used pervasively in Cambodia. For large purchases (over 10 bucks?) they prefer dollars to the reale (currently about 3800 to the buck, ... 38000 reale). Big ticket items (and small) items are quoted in USD.

[bamsphd]

The Economy of Cities byJane Jacobs, copyright 1970.

I strongly recommend as required reading for those who want fewer world currencies. I actually consider the Euro a long-term bearish development for Europe, though it may be a plus for a decade or two.