We are in a fiscal quandary. The deficit is soaring. US government tax revenue is only $2.2 billion per year (FY2010), but Federal spending is $3.5 billion (FY2010). Some estimates predict the accumulated deficit in ten years will be $14 trillion. Republicans have proposed an immediate $100 billion cut in spending. President Obama proposes to freeze government spending and save $400 billion over the next five years. His new budget proposal proposes to save $1.1 trillion over the next ten years. Even these proposals primarily concern discretionary funding, which accounts for only 20% of the budget; they don’t touch the majority 60% of Medicare, Social Security, and military expenses. The Chinese are beginning to shy away from supporting our financial irresponsibility. Oy! Have we got a problem.

I have a simple suggestion that significantly can increase revenues and help reduce our deficit.
 
I propose that the US Treasury decide tomorrow to begin sponsoring the printing of the image of anyone on the front of the US one-dollar bill, and any corporate or organizational logo on the back provided that any sponsor pay $100 million dollars for the privilege of this public-relations and/or ego trip.Each set of bills would be a collectible “limited edition” of ten million bills per set. They might even grow in value over the years, depending on who’s on the front, and what’s on the back. The sponsors would be allowed to “purchase” as many copies as they wish for personal/corporate use at face value of thecurrency.
 
This new design might allow the first non-Caucasian to appear on our currency, the second occasion of a woman (Martha Washington was the first in the nineteenth century), the children or grandchildren of doting sponsors, or their spouses. Even people and companies/organizations outside the US could take part.
 
As most people well know, our US currency has been undergoing graphic redesign, with the image of past presidents appearing on the left, rather than centered on the bill, with more colors, new typography, and new anti-counterfeiting techniques. The one-dollar bill is the remaining holdout in this campaign. Now is the perfect time to make this historic change in “outside funding” of our currency.
 
There are about three billion one-dollar bills in circulation, the most of any denomination, and they last about 21 months in circulation. That means, if the collectible currency first edition “sold out” to only 300 sponsors, the US government would raise $30 billion dollars over a two-year period. Two years later, it would be time to issue a new edition. There are more than 400 billionaires in the US, and Fortune 500 corporations are sitting on some of the largest cash reserves in their history. It is always challenging to tax the wealthiest individuals and companies. This simple suggestion gives sponsors a tangible benefit in return for their funds: something personal, valuable, enjoyable, and noteworthy. Worldwide interest in this project might even produce ten times as many sponsors for smaller editions that might have more value later as collectibles and produce ten times the immediate revenue.
 
Think about it. Wouldn’t our wealthiest individuals and corporations, or their fund-raising supporters, donate funds for the worthy cause of reducing the national deficit? Wouldn’t the wealthiest business leaders, politicians, media stars, or their public relations agencies, get behind this “Save the Nation” through a collectible currency movement? Just one example: Stephen Colbert might mobilize each of his 1.3 million Colbert Nation “citizens” to donate $100 to come up with the cash to immortalize his face on our national currency, especially now that his portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery. In his typically modest way, Stephen Colbert could announce the “Stephen Colbert Saves the USA, and So Can You” initiative.
 
The possibilities are numerous. The potential fund-raising capability is enormous.
 
So, wise up and rise up, citizens. Write to the US Treasury Department. Write to your Congressional leaders. The popular uprisings around the world show thepower of people to accomplish change. In this case, the US budget and, in the end, all of the citizens of the US are the immediate beneficiaries.
 
Author Contact Data:
 
Mr. Aaron Marcus, President
Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc. (AM+A)
1196 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708-1640, USA
Tel: +1-510-601-0994, Fax: +1-510-527-1994
E-mail: “Marcus, Aaron” <Aaron.Marcus@AMandA.com>
Web: www.AMandA.com