A Penny for Your Thoughts...on Second Thought, Let's Just Round Up to a Nickel
A penny for your thoughts. A penny saved is a penny earned. In for a penny, in for a pound. There are a lot of sayings that will have to change if Rep. Jim Kolbe (Republican, Arizona) has his way. It's not Kolbe's first time to try to eliminate the worrisome little Lincoln-headed coin. 2001 was his last (unsuccessful) try. His current effort will probably be defeated as well, since according to USA Today a majority of Americans do not support the discontiuation of our smallest currency. Reading about it though has got me thinking, why would we keep it?
It fills jar after jar in most of our homes. You can't spend them anywhere, toll booths, soda machines, parking meters, nowhere. It doesn't make sense for the government either. This year it will cause just over 1.25 cents to make a penny. Not too much in the red, but if you add that up a couple billion times, it's a bit of a problem. A couple of countries in Europe have already stopped or are considering stopping producing the 1 cent Euro coin. There are a lot of things that would recommend dropping the penny. So why don't we?
Mostly because of nostalgia. Illinois doesn't want us to dump it, because it honors their favorite son (even though he was born in Kentucky) Abraham Lincoln. States that produce a lot of zinc, also want to keep the penny, for obvious reasons. Charities use the penny as a fundraising tool, because, let's face it, who minds sparing them. Then there is the issue of prices for goods. Everything would have to rounded. In effect we'd be paying a few cents more for everything we buy. The argument is that, for the working poor, this would be an unnecessary and undue burden. Me personally, I'd gladly pay the extra pennies to never have to deal with the little buggers.
So what will happen? The public is split on the issue, most men favor dropping it, most women want to keep. Wealthier people are more likely to support it's discontinuation while those that make less than $30,000 a year largely want to keep the penny. Realistically I think it's just a matter of time, until all those $19.99 prices become $19.95 or more likely $20.00. Eventually, inflation will diminish the value enough and metal prices will continue to rise, it just won't be feasible to continue producing a coin no one uses. Not for a couple more years though, President Bush has already set up the printing of four special pennies in 2009, to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, and the Illinois' legislators aren't gonna let us skip that.
As for the title of this post, we might eventually have to round up to a dime. It's estimated that for 2006 every nickel will cost the government 5.73 cents to print. Now I remember why I like my debit card so much.
It fills jar after jar in most of our homes. You can't spend them anywhere, toll booths, soda machines, parking meters, nowhere. It doesn't make sense for the government either. This year it will cause just over 1.25 cents to make a penny. Not too much in the red, but if you add that up a couple billion times, it's a bit of a problem. A couple of countries in Europe have already stopped or are considering stopping producing the 1 cent Euro coin. There are a lot of things that would recommend dropping the penny. So why don't we?
Mostly because of nostalgia. Illinois doesn't want us to dump it, because it honors their favorite son (even though he was born in Kentucky) Abraham Lincoln. States that produce a lot of zinc, also want to keep the penny, for obvious reasons. Charities use the penny as a fundraising tool, because, let's face it, who minds sparing them. Then there is the issue of prices for goods. Everything would have to rounded. In effect we'd be paying a few cents more for everything we buy. The argument is that, for the working poor, this would be an unnecessary and undue burden. Me personally, I'd gladly pay the extra pennies to never have to deal with the little buggers.
So what will happen? The public is split on the issue, most men favor dropping it, most women want to keep. Wealthier people are more likely to support it's discontinuation while those that make less than $30,000 a year largely want to keep the penny. Realistically I think it's just a matter of time, until all those $19.99 prices become $19.95 or more likely $20.00. Eventually, inflation will diminish the value enough and metal prices will continue to rise, it just won't be feasible to continue producing a coin no one uses. Not for a couple more years though, President Bush has already set up the printing of four special pennies in 2009, to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, and the Illinois' legislators aren't gonna let us skip that.
As for the title of this post, we might eventually have to round up to a dime. It's estimated that for 2006 every nickel will cost the government 5.73 cents to print. Now I remember why I like my debit card so much.
posted by Daddy Rogue at 7:43 PM
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