Numismatics

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More on US Quarters:

50 State quarters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 50 State quarters (authorized by Pub.L. 105–124 (text) (pdf), 111 Stat. 2534, enacted December 1, 1997) was a series circulating commemorative quarters released by the United States Mint. Minted from 1999 through 2008, they featured unique designs for each of the 50 US states on the reverse.

The 50 State Quarters Program was started to support a new generation of coin collectors,[1][2] and it became the most successful numismatic program in history, with roughly half of the US population collecting the coins, either in a casual manner or as a serious pursuit.[3] The US federal government so far has made additional profits of $3.0 billion from collectors taking the coins out of circulation.[4]...........then skip to..................

The 50 State Quarters Program was the most popular commemorative coin program in United States history; the United States Mint has estimated that 147 million Americans have collected state quarters and 3.5 million participated in the selection of state quarter designs.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_State_quarters

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More on US Quarters:

America the Beautiful quarters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The America the Beautiful quarters (sometimes abbreviated ATB quarters) were a series of 56 25-cent pieces (quarters) issued by the United States Mint, which began in 2010 and lasted until 2021.[1] The obverse (front) of all the coins depicts George Washington in a modified version of the portrait used for the original 1932 Washington quarter.[2] There were five new reverse (back) designs each year (one in 2021), each commemorating a national park or national site – one from each state, the federal district, and each territory. The program was authorized by the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.

Coin designs
Quarters were issued with reverse designs commemorating national parks and sites in the order of which that park or site was deemed a national site.[3] The quarters from three states depict parks or sites that were previously portrayed on the state quarters (Grand Canyon in Arizona, Yosemite in California, and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota). While they depict the same sites, they bear new designs.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful_quarters

[HitRed]

https://www.kitco.com/news/2021-04-29/M ... ector.html

5 STARS!!!

The article and the interview are gold!!!

[HitRed]

Bought more silver.

Biden has proposed $4B investment in Central America in push to tackle 'root causes'

[HitRed]

Biden hits the road to pitch $4T spending binge

[riskllama]

that's a lot of quarters...

[jusplay4fun]

A few billion here, a few trillion (US Dollars) here; what does that matter? the Federal government JUS prints more Monopoly money.

[Dukasaur]

Exactly!

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Biden hits the road to pitch $4T spending binge

I am looking for specific dollar amounts. The Biden Administration does not make those # easy to find, it seems to me. This may be the infrastructure idea.

This is after some $6 TRILLION, $6,000,000,000,000 for COVID Relief and another $4,000,000,000,000 on Infrastructure (the above MAY be that proposal), and another $4,000,000,000,000 on Green Energy and Climate initiatives. Note that there are climate spending quoted above, so I do not know which of his proposals I am reading, without scrolling all the way up to the top. I know he came to Virginia yesterday to promote a $4B idea for Free child care and free 2 year college. So is that $18 Trillion?? [This paragraph is Repeated below]

This is from there website:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/

FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan
MARCH 31, 2021 • STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
While the American Rescue Plan is changing the course of the pandemic and delivering relief for working families, this is no time to build back to the way things were. This is the moment to reimagine and rebuild a new economy. The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United States to out-compete China.

NO dollar amount in this paragraph:

Invest in R&D and the technologies of the future:

Advance U.S. leadership in critical technologies and upgrade America’s research infrastructure. U.S. leadership in new technologies—from artificial intelligence to biotechnology to computing—is critical to both our future economic competitiveness and our national security. Based on bipartisan proposals, President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $50 billion in the National Science Foundation (NSF), creating a technology directorate that will collaborate with and build on existing programs across the government. It will focus on fields like semiconductors and advanced computing, advanced communications technology, advanced energy technologies, and biotechnology. He also is calling on Congress to provide $30 billion in additional funding for R&D that spurs innovation and job creation, including in rural areas. His plan also will invest $40 billion in upgrading research infrastructure in laboratories across the country, including brick-and-mortar facilities and computing capabilities and networks. These funds would be allocated across the federal R&D agencies, including at the Department of Energy. Half of those funds will be reserved for Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions, including the creation of a new national lab focused on climate that will be affiliated with an HBCU.

Establish the United States as a leader in climate science, innovation, and R&D. The President is calling on Congress to invest $35 billion in the full range of solutions needed to achieve technology breakthroughs that address the climate crisis and position America as the global leader in clean energy technology and clean energy jobs. This includes launching ARPA-C to develop new methods for reducing emissions and building climate resilience, as well as expanding across-the-board funding for climate research. In addition to a $5 billion increase in funding for other climate-focused research, his plan will invest $15 billion in demonstration projects for climate R&D priorities, including utility-scale energy storage, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, advanced nuclear, rare earth element separations, floating offshore wind, biofuel/bioproducts, quantum computing, and electric vehicles, as well as strengthening U.S. technological leadership in these areas in global markets.

Eliminate racial and gender inequities in research and development and science, technology, engineering, and math. Discrimination leads to less innovation: one study found that innovation in the United States will quadruple if women, people of color, and children from low-income families invented at the rate of groups who are not held back by discrimination and structural barriers. Persistent inequities in access to R&D dollars and to careers in innovation industries prevents the U.S. economy from reaching its full potential. President Biden is calling on Congress to make a $10 billion R&D investment at HBCUs and other MSIs. He also is calling on Congress to invest $15 billion in creating up to 200 centers of excellence that serve as research incubators at HBCUs and other MSIs to provide graduate fellowships and other opportunities for underserved populations, including through pre-college programs.

The President also is calling on Congress to invest $50 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research, as called for in the bipartisan CHIPS Act.

I am scanning and not reading every word from this point.

TELL ME, how does President Biden plan to PAY for ALL this? I heard him talk about taxing corporations, but what will they do? Pass the cost of the tax ONTO US, ALL Americans and mostly on the Middle Class. He wants to keep claiming that he will only "Tax the Rich" a mantra of the Left.

Increase access to capital for domestic manufacturers. America’s manufacturing industry needs to innovate, adapt, and scale to win the industries of the future. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest more than $52 billion in domestic manufacturers.

President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $31 billion in programs that give small businesses access to credit, venture capital, and R&D dollars.

I will STOP here, quoting from THAT document.

This is after some $6 TRILLION, $6,000,000,000,000 for COVID Relief and another $4,000,000,000,000 on Infrastructure (the above MAY be that proposal), and another $4,000,000,000,000 on Green Energy and Climate initiatives. Note that there are climate spending quoted above, so I do not know which of his proposals I am reading, without scrolling all the way up to the top. I know he came to Virginia yesterday to promote a $4T idea for Free child care and free 2 year college. So is that $18 Trillion??

They use to say we got the money Loaned to us from the Arab Oil tycoons, then China, NOW...? NOWHERE or the Federal Reserve?? That means to me that "they" are merely PRINTING MONEY. What does that lead to? INFLATION. And this is on top of rising prices for GASOLINE, what I call the Biden gas increase. I heard (on the Radio news) that some places are paying $5 per gallon, in Calif of course. Enough. OR TOO much, in this post and too much deficit spending.

[HitRed]

The U.S. Money Supply (M2)

https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/c ... 1=19960608

More silver?

It is a good bet. It will always stand.

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What Is Fiat Money?
Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand and the stability of the issuing government, rather than the worth of a commodity backing it as is the case for commodity money. Most modern paper currencies are fiat currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the euro, and other major global currencies.1


KEY TAKEAWAYS
Fiat money is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a commodity such as gold.
Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed.
Most modern paper currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, are fiat currencies.
One danger of fiat money is that governments will print too much of it, resulting in hyperinflation.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

also:

The Nixon shock was a series of economic measures undertaken by United States President Richard Nixon in 1971, in response to increasing inflation, the most significant of which were wage and price freezes, surcharges on imports, and the unilateral cancellation of the direct international convertibility of the United States dollar to gold.[1]

While Nixon's actions did not formally abolish the existing Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange, the suspension of one of its key components effectively rendered the Bretton Woods system inoperative. While Nixon publicly stated his intention to resume direct convertibility of the dollar after reforms to the Bretton Woods system had been implemented, all attempts at reform proved unsuccessful. By 1973, the Bretton Woods system was replaced de facto by the current regime based on freely floating fiat currencies.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock

BUT. from the same source, above:

Later ramifications
The Nixon Shock has been widely considered to be a political success, but an economic mixed bag in bringing on the stagflation of the 1970s and leading to the instability of floating currencies. The dollar plunged by a third during the 1970s. According to the World Trade Review's report "The Nixon Shock After Forty Years: The Import Surcharge Revisited", Douglas Irwin reports that for several months, U.S officials could not get other countries to agree to a formal revaluation of their currencies. The German Mark appreciated significantly after it was allowed to float in May 1971. Further, the Nixon Shock unleashed enormous speculation against the dollar. It forced Japan's central bank to intervene significantly in the foreign exchange market to prevent the yen from increasing in value. Within two days August 16–17, 1971, Japan's central bank had to buy $1.3 billion to support the dollar and keep the yen at the old rate of ¥360 to the dollar. Japan's foreign exchange reserves rapidly increased: $2.7 billion (30%) a week later and $4 billion the following week. Still, this large-scale intervention by Japan's central bank could not prevent the depreciation of US dollar against the yen. France also was willing to allow the dollar to depreciate against the franc, but not allow the franc to appreciate against gold (Page 14 Douglas). Even much later, in 2011, Paul Volcker expressed regret over the abandonment of Bretton Woods: "Nobody's in charge," Volcker said. "The Europeans couldn't live with the uncertainty and made their own currency and now that's in trouble."[4]

Debates over the Nixon Shock have persisted to the present day, with economists and politicians across the political spectrum trying to make sense of the Nixon Shock and its impact on monetary policy in the light of the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

and MORE:

The Triffin dilemma or Triffin paradox is the conflict of economic interests that arises between short-term domestic and long-term international objectives for countries whose currencies serve as global reserve currencies. This dilemma was identified in the 1960s by Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin,[1] who pointed out that the country whose currency, being the global reserve currency, foreign nations wish to hold, must be willing to supply the world with an extra supply of its currency to fulfill world demand for these foreign exchange reserves, thus leading to a trade deficit.

The use of a national currency, such as the U.S. dollar, as global reserve currency leads to tension between its national and global monetary policy. This is reflected in fundamental imbalances in the balance of payments, specifically the current account, as some goals require an outflow of dollars from the United States, while others require an overall inflow.

Specifically, the Triffin dilemma is usually cited to articulate the problems with the role of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency under the Bretton Woods system. John Maynard Keynes had anticipated this difficulty and had advocated the use of a global reserve currency called 'Bancor'. Currently, the IMF's SDRs are the closest thing to the proposed Bancor but they have not been adopted widely enough to replace the dollar as the global reserve currency.

In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the governor of the People's Bank of China explicitly named the reserve currency status of the US dollar as a contributing factor to global savings and investment imbalances that led to the crisis. As such, the Triffin Dilemma is related to the Global Savings Glut hypothesis because the dollar's reserve currency role exacerbates the U.S. current account deficit due to heightened demand for dollars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffin_dilemma

And more on Fiat Money, NOT backed by gold or silver or other precious commodity:

How Fiat Money Works
Fiat money only has value because the government maintains that value, or because two parties in a transaction agree on its value. Historically, governments would mint coins out of a valuable physical commodity, such as gold or silver, or print paper money that could be redeemed for a set amount of a physical commodity. Fiat money is inconvertible and cannot be redeemed. The word "fiat" comes from the Latin and is often translated as the decree "it shall be" or "let it be done."2


Because fiat money is not linked to physical reserves, such as a national stockpile of gold or silver, it risks losing value due to inflation or even becoming worthless in the event of hyperinflation.3 If people lose faith in a nation's currency, the money will no longer hold value. That differs from currency backed by gold, for example; it has intrinsic value because of the demand for gold in jewelry and decoration as well as the manufacture of electronic devices, computers, and aerospace vehicles.

Special Considerations
The U.S. dollar is considered to be both fiat money and legal tender, accepted for private and public debts.4 Legal tender is basically any currency that a government declares to be legal. Many governments issue a fiat currency, then make it legal tender by setting it as the standard for debt repayment.


Earlier in U.S. history, the country's currency was backed by gold (and in some cases, silver). The federal government stopped allowing citizens to exchange currency for government gold with the passage of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933.5 The gold standard, which backed U.S. currency with federal gold, ended completely in 1971, when the U.S. also stopped issuing gold to foreign governments in exchange for U.S. currency.6


Since that time, U.S. dollars are known to be backed by the "full faith and credit" of the U.S. government, "legal tender for all debts, public and private" but not "redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury or at any Federal Reserve Bank," as printing on U.S. dollar bills used to claim. In this sense, U.S. dollars are now "legal tender," rather than "lawful money," which can be exchanged for gold, silver, or any other commodity.7

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fiat Money
Advantages
Fiat money serves as a good currency if it can handle the roles that a nation's economy needs of its monetary unit—storing value, providing a numerical account, and facilitating exchange. It also has excellent seigniorage.

Fiat currencies gained prominence in the 20th century in part because governments and central banks sought to insulate their economies from the worst effects of the natural booms and busts of the business cycle.8 Since fiat money is not a scarce or fixed resource like gold, central banks have much greater control over its supply, which gives them the power to manage economic variables such as credit supply, liquidity, interest rates, and money velocity. For instance, the U.S. Federal Reserve has the dual mandate to keep unemployment and inflation low.9

Disadvantages
The mortgage crisis of 2007 and subsequent financial meltdown, however, tempered the belief that central banks could necessarily prevent depressions or serious recessions by regulating the money supply.10 A currency tied to gold, for example, is generally more stable than fiat money because of the limited supply of gold.11 There are more opportunities for the creation of bubbles with fiat money due to its unlimited supply.

Example of Fiat Money Gone Wrong: Hyperinflation
The African nation of Zimbabwe provided an example of the worst-case scenario in the early 2000s. In response to serious economic problems, the country's central bank began to print money at a staggering pace. That resulted in hyperinflation, which ran between 230 and 500 billion percent in 2008.12 Prices rose rapidly and consumers were forced to carry bags of money just to purchase basic staples.11 At the height of the crisis, a 100-trillion Zimbabwean dollar was worth about 40 cents in U.S. currency.13

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

Bottom Line: The prudent and responsible management of the money supply is very important for the economic health of a country. There are many factors that impact this economic health and the "Central Bank" (in the US, that is the Federal Reserve) CANNOT control ALL those factors. If this management is NOT done responsibly, there are economic impacts that can lead to hardships for many people, as outlined in the article about the Nixon Shock.