Let's Replace Dollar Bills With Coins

Here's a quick way to cut government spending: Stop making one-dollar bills. Switching to coins could save us some $5.5 billion over 30 years, write the editors of the Los Angeles Times. That's the lifespan of a coin, while a paper dollar lasts only 3 years. Want to save more money? Get rid of pennies. As of last year, they cost about 2 cents to make. In other words, "the government loses a cent for every one it makes."

We could save $70 million every year if we ditched them—and who wants them? "The one-cent coin, let's face it, is little more than a nostalgia item, a copper-clad anachronism whose absence few outside the zinc industry would notice." Finally, to top it all off, we could follow President Obama's 2010 suggestion and make nickels out of less costly materials; as it stands, they cost 9 cents to make. Click through for the full editorial. (More dollar coin stories.)