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By the Numbers

US$1.3tn The annual US budget deficit proposed by President Barack Obama will be US$1.33 trillion in fiscal 2012, or 8.5 per cent of gross domestic product, falling to US$901 billion in 2013, or 5.5 per cent of GDP.

From the Back Page

Americans choke on $1 coin stockpile

The UK newspaper The Telegraph reported recently that a mountain of 1.2 billion dollar coins is sitting unused in US government vaults because the American public is so attached to the traditional dollar bill. The US Mint has been producing vast numbers of the gold-coloured coins after being ordered to do so by Congress in 2005.

American taxpayers could save $500 million (A$524m) a year if they switched from paper dollars, which wear out quickly and must be replaced, to the more durable metal version, according to  the US government accountability office.

Yet demand from banks for the coins has been so low that US$1.2 billion worth – which cost US$300 million to manufacture – are sitting in storage, an investigation by National Public Radio found.

According to The Telegraph, opinion polls show that three-quarters of the American public say they would prefer to carry on using the paper dollar bill, affectionately known as the “greenback”, which celebrates its 150th birthday next year.

 

Comment: AB+F Blog

Two early for reform: The one-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passing into law rolled quietly by last month... [more]

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