The US' newest US$1 coin, bearing the likeness of George Washington, is going into circulation around the country just in time for next week's anniversary of the first US president's birthday.
US Mint officials hope they have overcome problems that doomed two earlier types of dollar coins, but experts are still skeptical. Americans have strongly preferred their dollars in paper, wary of confusing the coins with smaller change.
Mint Director Edmund Moy was due to participate in a coin exchange yesterday at New York's busy Grand Central Terminal to promote the new dollar, which the Mint believes can be a big success despite the naysayers.
The Mint is making sure the coins, which are golden in color and slightly larger and thicker than a quarter -- the commonly used US$0.25 coin -- will be widely available so people will not be disappointed when they show up at banks looking for the coins.
So far the Federal Reserve, the Mint's distribution agent, has placed orders for 300 million of the Washington coins. Many have already been delivered to commercial banks under orders not to begin releasing them to customers until Thursday.
"For the vast majority of Americans, they will be able to get the new dollar coin on the day that we issue it," Moy said in an interview.
The design on the coin will change every three months, featuring a new president in the order in which they served. In that way, the Mint hopes to attract the more than 125 million collectors who are participating in the phenomenally successful 50-state quarter program.
Coin experts, however, questioned whether the rotating designs will be enough to allow the new presidential US$1 coin to succeed where the Susan Anthony dollar, introduced in 1979, and the Sacagawea dollar, introduced in 2000, failed.
VMoy said Congress made the decision to keep the dollar bill as part of its consideration and passage of the new dollar coin legislation in 2005.
After Washington, the presidents honored this year will be John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The program is scheduled to run into 2016. A president must have been dead at least two years to appear on a coin.
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his