Posted on 07/05/2002 12:07:25 PM PDT by GeneD
NEW YORK - Almost a year has passed now since U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe made headlines by introducing his anti-penny bill, yet these pesky one-cent coins continue to jingle uselessly in people's pockets. Can nobody rid America of this copper-coated scourge?
Kolbe, an Arizona Republican, is doing his best, although his proposed Legal Tender Modernization Act is languishing in a subcommittee. The bill would not ban pennies, but merely discourage their use by establishing a system under which cash transactions would be rounded up or down. That would render the penny unnecessary.
"It's practically useless in everyday life," complains Neena Moorjani, Kolbe's press secretary. But the penny has its fans, especially in Tennessee, which is rich in zinc. Up until 1982, pennies were made mostly of copper; since then they have been 97.5% zinc, with a little copper mixed in for appearance's sake.
Just last week, two lawmakers from the Volunteer State introduced a resolution commemorating the 20th anniversary of the zinc-based penny. Fans of this coin note snidely that Kolbe's home state of Arizona is rich in copper--which makes up a bigger percentage of the larger-denomination coins that might be more heavily used if the penny were discontinued. Kolbe also favors replacing paper dollar bills with longer-lasting $1 coins--and as it happens, the Sacagawea "golden dollar" introduced two years ago is made mostly of copper.
Moorjani stoutly rejects the suggestion that her boss is shilling for his state's copper interests. "Our office has not spoken to the copper industry in Arizona about this issue at all," she says, referring to the Legal Tender Modernization bill.
Be that as it may, Kolbe's proposals are only logical. Several other nations have eliminated their small-denomination coins without going to wrack and ruin in the process, and Canada managed to replace its dollar bills with dollar coins. Yet many Americans recoil from the idea of losing the penny, and they have responded to the golden dollar more by admiring its image of Sacagawea than by using it to buy things.
Still, the U.S. Mint considers the new dollar coin a success. "America seems to really like the coin, despite what people might read to the contrary," asserts Doug Hecox, a Mint spokesman. If they tend to hoard it rather than spend it, that just means they value it, he says: "Their inaction speaks louder than words."
After producing more than a billion Sacagawea dollars, the Mint temporarily halted production earlier this year. But Hecox says that was due to the economic slowdown, which affected demand for all coins. Now that a recovery seems to be at hand, the Mint soon will consider putting Sacagawea back into production, he adds.
The Mint never stopped producing pennies, however, recession or no recession. Last year it stamped out 10.3 billion of them, and through the first five months of this year it put another 2.5 billion shiny new pennies into circulation. Meanwhile, Kolbe's bill molders in some congressional cubbyhole. The ban-the-penny movement lives on (it was featured on one of last season's episodes of The West Wing), but the pennies keep mounting up.
Perhaps the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School could take the lead in studying this issue and determining which course makes the best economic sense. That would only be appropriate, because this school originally was endowed by Gilded Age industrialist Joseph Wharton, who got rich by cornering the market for nickel and then persuading Congress to create a new coin made exclusively of metal from his mines.
More than a century later, the nickel is still with us, but these days it contains more copper than nickel. Chalk up another win for Arizona. Now, if Kolbe and company could just get Congress to drop the penny, they would introduce some real sense into America's currency.
Tennesseans in the legislature need to have their butts reexamined for common sense for continuing to embrace the penny made primarily of zinc.
If Congress wants to do something for the children and little animals, they could go back to making the penny out of copper. I have personally treated many dogs that were dying from penny ingestion and zinc heavy metal poisoning.
Anyone who advocates banning the penny either doesn't understand the most basic details of how the Mint works, or else has an alterior motive.
Be that as it may, Kolbe's proposals are only logical. Several other nations have eliminated their small-denomination coins without going to wrack and ruin in the process, and Canada managed to replace its dollar bills with dollar coins.
Yes, and these other countries routinely ignore their citizens' wishes on every other issue under the sun as well. This isn't a good argument for anyone that believes in freedom.
This is the pretty one.
That's quite alarming information. In the past parents were advised to just let the penny pass. Now there is a whole population of grandparents out there that will be mis-advising their children as to treeatment when the grandchildren swallow their allowance! I think we need a nationwide alert on this situation. :-)
I'm not sure about that. Most prices today end in .98 or .99 to make the dollar amount appear smaller. I'd expect an item that costs $9.99 to be rounded down to $9.95 rather than up to $10.
So what changed? Well, the government in its infinite appetite for somebody else's money - there is no other kind - decided to pass a 3% value-added tax to all retail purchases, and voila! the little aluminum monsters became necessary again overnight. The resulting furor very nearly brought down the government. But the furor died down and, naturally, the tax remains.
This is why I tend to doubt we'll ever rid ourselves of the penny, at least until the government succeeds in convincing us that it needs our money in larger bites.
And let's not forget how useful they are, when thrown out your car window by the handful into the street, as you are passing a long line of homeless guys...
Thats a good way to discourage tailgaters on the freeway too.
Already today after applying sales tax you rarely end up with an exact number of cents, so you have to round. Eliminating pennies would just increase the quantum from 1 to 5 cents. Since 5 cents today is worth less than 1 cent many years ago, I don't see that as a major issue.
1. Whose face is on a penny?
2. What state is he from?
3. What state is the Speaker of the House from?
And you wonder why this idea 'molders in some congressional cubbyhole'?
You will become a criminal immediately and be sent to prison camps set up specifically for your evil kind...
I can save you from this fate. Send 'em to me...NO, NOT C.O.D.!! NOT C.O.D.!!!!
FWIW History fact: In the late 1800's - early 1900's, newspapers often sold for a penny. Grocers started charging .09 [etc] so the customer would have the penny left over for the newspaper.
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