DEAR ABBY: Could you please answer this question we are baffled over at work:
Why doesn't the U.S. Mint simply print enough money to just pay off our government's debts, feed the hungry and house the homeless? We know there must be a logical answer. We just don't know what it is. - BAFFLEDDEAR BAFFLED: According to an official at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., who wishes to remain anonymous: "The amount of money printed has to be related to the economic activity of the country. If the government were to print enough money to pay all the nation's bills without regard to the goods and services being produced by the country, it could cause rampant inflation."
The amount of currency printed at the U.S. Mint is directed by the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States.
The gold bars stored at Fort Knox, Ky., and the gold and silver stored in a depository at West Point, N.Y., are "symbolically important," according to my source at the Treasry Department, but the nation's output is more important to economic stability.
Germany in the 1920s is a textbook example of printing money "willy-nilly," which resulted in a crippling currency debacle, acute economic distress and, ultimately, the rise of Adolf Hitler.
DEAR ABBY: A new friend of mine talks very loud. When I talk to her on the telephone, I have to hold the receiver at least 6 inches from my ear.
I don't think she's hard of hearing because her 10-year-old daughter talks just as loud as her mother. They constantly yell at each other. Since I don't know this woman very well, I don't know how to tell her to tone down her voice a little. I don't want to offend herr or hurt her feelings. What should I do? - FRIENDLY NEIGHBOR
DEAR NEIGHBOR: When you know her better, it would be a kindness to tell her that she is speaking exceptionally loud, and even suggest that she have her hearing tested. (Usually, people who talk loud are hard of hearing.)
Your new friend's daughter talks "just as loud" because children often imitate their parents. The child could also have a hearing loss.
DEAR ABBY: The letter you received from "Doc in Faribault, Minn.," sbout the college-graduate cashier who couldn't make change for a $5 bill, brought to mind a similar experience I had a few months ago while shopping for shoes.
I was standing in line with my purchase, ready to pay, when something went wrong with the cashier's computer. She didn't know what to do, so she tried to call her manager for instructions, but his line was busy. Another clerk told her to use the hand calculator, but she didn't know how to figure the tax, so I told her to multiply .0825 by the purchase price, and add that to the total.
She was very grateful, but I wonder how long the line would have been had I not been there. It makes one wonder what the schoolteachers are teaching nowadays. And how do the students graduate when they learn so little? - AMAZED IN ESCONDIDO, CALIF.