Refuse New Coins?
I receive so many false chain e-mails, that I will truly be surprised when I receive a true one. I recently received the following piece of false/misleading propaganda:
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REFUSE NEW COINS
This simple action will make a strong statement.
Please help do this.. Refuse to accept these when they are handed to you.
I received one from the Post Office as change and I asked for a dollar bill instead.
The lady just smiled and said 'way to go’, so she had read this e -mail.
Please help out...our world is in enough trouble without this too!!!!!
U.S. Government to Release New Dollar Coins
You guessed it …
'IN GOD WE TRUST' IS GONE!!!
If ever there was a reason to boycott something, THIS IS IT!!!!
DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE
Together we can force them out of circulation.
Please send to all on your mailing list!!!
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The e-mail even included a picture showing the face of a George Washington dollar coin, and of course, there was no inscription of "In God We Trust" to be found there.
Although it is estimated that there may have been as many as $100,000 dollars worth of presidential dollar coins mistakenly released into circulation in 2007 without the inscription, “IN GOD WE TRUST”, the vast majority of coins (over 300 million as of March 2007) do have the inscription.
Understandably, the first and largest accidental release of coins without the inscription occurred with the first Presidential dollar coin which bore the likeness of George Washington.
Many people may not at first notice the inscription, because it is not in the usual place. It has been stamped around the edge of the coin.
With the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, Congress instructed the US Mint to move the inscription from the edge to either the front or back. The inscription was repositioned beginning with the first Presidential coin issued in 2009, bearing the likeness of President William Henry Harrison.
If you are intent on boycotting the coins without the inscription to get them out of circulation, then consider this: Wouldn’t you have a much greater impact if you simply accepted the coin and just refused to use it, or destroyed it? That would take it immediately out of circulation. Nevertheless, I doubt you will get the opportunity since your chances of ending up with one of these now are quite small, because most have been gathered up by collectors. The smooth edge coins have appraised for about $50. I found one being sold on ebay for $129.95!
Check the Facts
It is so easy to fact check e-mails before you forward them. This one took me less than 5 minutes to research, and it was fun. I learned some things. Here are some useful links regarding the facts of the issue:
Poll
Where do you think "In God We Trust" should appear on US coins?
Chain E-mail Poll
What do you do with chain e-mails?
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Comments
Interesting Hub! It's amazing what people will believe though email! I am glad you point out the site Snopes.com! A great site! A very good first hub - welcome to Hubpages!
- Author
Thanks SimeyC,
Your hub http://hubpages.com/hub/A-newbies-guide-to-hubpage... was one of the first ones I read. It was a big help. I'm still learning and Comments are welcome.
So the email's point that there are coins w/o the inscription is... incorrect? And you suggest that I assume the cost, to the tune of $1 per to remove these from circulation? Fascinating! How about we let the institution that made the mistake take on the responsibility for correcting it. Making government institutions live up to their responsibilities sounds a tad more reasonable, don't you think?
- Author
Rodriquez:
In case you missed your High School Civics class, "You are part of the government." This means that if you pay taxes at all, you will be funding any government action to correct this anyway. So why waste your, my and other taxpayers' money when collectors and other concerned citizens are willing to do the job for free? As for living up to their responsibilities, the error was quickly discovered and corrected, so you are only likely to find coins with the inscription.
the fact of the matter the coin still ended up into circulation. 2nd point: Why would the government move this position of In God We Trust from the face of the coin to the edge of the coin where it the least obvious placement for this phrase to be placed( who looks at the side of the coin in every day use?) Why wasn't united states of America placed there instead? In my opinion this was not a accident it was intentional, and they were caught in the act of trying to rid our coins of this phrase. There are people in this country and public office who just as soon get rid of every mention of God in our government, just look at what they have done with the displaying of the Ten Commandments in public places in this country and you believe this is a accident then I have bridge that i want to sell you over a dry creek bed.
- Author
Free republic, I appreciate your comment, however I am not arguing the issue of any conspiracy to rid our coins of the phrase, "In God We Trust". I am merely pointing out the fact the the phrase does still exist on our dollar coins.
Good article. However, placing the motto on the coin's edge does diminish its prominence and, hence, its significance. 75% of your poll responders prefer "In God We Trust" appear on the face of coins. Though unscientific I suspect a wide-based, professional poll would yield a similar result.
- Author
Nick,
Thanks for commenting. As you mentioned, this poll is certainly not scientific, since it is without doubt skewed toward a particular audience. Even so, I would suspect that a majority of Americans would prefer the inscription be placed on the face of the coin, though I imagine the majority would not be quite so large as indicated by this poll.
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