800 million Golden Dollars through all of its distribution channels ,” and that they “ expect to produce the billionth Golden Dollar by the end of the summer .”
The New York Times reported on January 14 , 2001 , “ It seems that almost no one is spending the Sacajawea dollar coins . What most people are doing , once they recovered from their surprise at first seeing the coin , is putting them aside as if they ’ ve found an unusual arrowhead .” Doug Tillet , spokesman for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , said , “ They tend not to circulate . They tend to end up in people ’ s drawers , jars and pockets .”
In late December 2000 , 50 million Sacajawea dollars were waiting patiently in the Federal Reserve Bank ’ s East Rutherford , NJ , operations center . Those coins were intended for delivery to banks in Metro New York and beyond , including Westchester and Fairfax counties , Long Island and upstate New York . Banks waited for a signal from consumers , but it never came .
“ We don ’ t have it as part of our normal coin within the branches ,” said Heather Tollybauer , spokeswoman for Citizens Bank of Connecticut . “ If a customer were to ask for it specifically , we could order it from the Federal Reserve .” In early 2001 , Citizens Bank had 43 branches in the state .
Yet Another Failed US Dollar Coin
Banks told The New York Times that they would order the new coins if there was consumer demand — but there was next to none . Overall , it appeared that people regarded the Sacajawea coins as an annoyance . When people did spend the “ golden dollar ” coin , stores struggled to deal with them . Vijay Patel , a clerk at a 7-Eleven store in Tarrytown , NY , told a reporter in 2001 that he had around 20 of them the previous weekend , but that he went to the bank to exchange them for dollar bills . “ It ’ s very hard to hold those dollar coins ,” he said , adding that his coin drawer only has space for nickels , dimes , quarters and pennies .
In 2002 , the Mint stopped producing the Sacajawea coin for general circulation . Over the course of two years ( 2000 – 2001 ), over 1.3 billion “ golden dollars ” were produced , which cost taxpayers over $ 160 million . The Mint had planned to strike an additional 40 million in 2002 , but the utter failure of yet another US dollar coin lowered that figure down to around 10 million pieces solely for the collector market .
During a 2002 Senate Treasury subcommittee hearing on the failure of the Sacajawea coin to circulate , North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan testified : “ Since the golden dollar was unveiled by the US Mint nearly two years ago , I have never received one in change anywhere in the United States . It seems to have nearly vanished , and I regret that … It appears to me that at this point the use of the golden dollar and the introduction of the golden dollar has been a failure .”
Historian Amy Mosset testified at the same hearing . She said , “ As I visit audiences across the country I am quite surprised , and perhaps more dismayed , that so many people have never touched a Sacajawea dollar coin . They certainly know that the coin exists , but they have never had a golden dollar coin in their hand , and they have never had a golden dollar coin in their pocket .”
But what could the United States do with hundreds of millions of Sacajawea dollars sitting in government vaults ?
Ecuador ’ s Economic Crisis ( 1998 – 1999 )
During the 20th century , Ecuador was among the poorest nations in Latin America , and it had higher rates of poverty and income inequality in comparison to other nations in the region . The late 1990s saw approximately 45 % of the populace living below the national poverty level . Oil was discovered in the 1960s , which led to swift economic growth . However , that discovery created an economy that relied heavily upon oil exports , as well as agricultural products such as bananas , coffee and shrimp . During the late 1990s , oil exports accounted for half of Ecuador ’ s total exports and around one-third of all governmental revenues .
Ecuadorian author Alberto Valencia Granada summarized the causes of the economic crises :
In the late 1990s , Ecuador … experienced capital flight following the East Asian and Russian crises . Ecuador then experienced a politicaleconomic crisis that was aggravated by many factors : military confrontation with Peru , lack of sufficient hydroelectric energy production … and difficulties in the agricultural sector because of the El Niño weather phenomenon … The biggest victim of
An Amerindian girl in Ecuador . Ecuadorians see a physical resemblance between themselves and the image upon the Sacajawea dollar , and thus a cultural affinity has developed between them and the coin .
the economic crisis was the agricultural export industry located along the coasts …
The rain and flooding of El Niño resulted in extensive crop failures and damage to infrastructure that cost about 13 % of GDP . Within the context of the financial crisis in Asia and Russia , global financial institutions became resistant to providing credit lines to Ecuador . Oil prices crashed in 1998 , which greatly reduced the government ’ s revenues . These shocks created a situation within which the public deficit grew from 2.6 % of GDP in 1997 to 6.2 % in 1998 .
The banking crisis began in 1998 . An atmosphere of uncertainty caused excessive withdrawals and numerous bank failures through the end of 1999 . Inflation topped out at 67 % by the end of that year . By this time , there was widespread informal use of the US dollar in the financial sector . In a desperate measure to prevent the onset of hyperinflation , the government formally adopted the US dollar in January 2000 . That was the first step in stabilizing the economy and working towards fiscal recovery . However , the exchange rate was fixed at 25,000 Ecuadorian Sucre to $ 1 US , which resulted in a great loss of wealth .
A New Home for Sacajawea ?
On April 15 , 2002 , the Central Bank of Ecuador placed five million Sacajawea dollars into circulation , two years after the
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32 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Spring 2024 | www . MoAF . org