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Abolish The Penny

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Category: American History Autor: anton 17 December 2010 Words: 977 | Pages: 4

Abolish the Penny Between 2001 and 2006, there has been an increase of .6 cents for the reproduction of the penny. This increase displays economic problems that may lead to fatal ones. The penny is composed of 2% copper and 98% zinc. These elements are exponentially in demand causing the price of these materials to skyrocket. Many Americans think the penny is putting our country in jeopardy with financial losses. This meaningless coin is losing money for the mint, and should be abolished. The penny costs 1.4 cents to manufacture each time at the mint. This is causing the mint to lose money for the treasury. Last year, the mint earned $730 million dollars in profit. Many mint officials claim the estimation will be about $45 million due to the cost of metals made in pennies. Our country is continuing to have a very strong economy with the stock markets going up. The penny might affect these benefits from the rapid production of these coins. Copper and zinc are the main elements that compose the penny. With the rising costs of these elements, the economy may back up a bit. Because of this, the U.S. mint should reduce their penny production. The Lincoln penny has produced excessive amounts that is resulting outrageous mintages into the billions. While the cent production has suprassed the one billion count in the 1950s, a change has taken place. The Denver Mint had assumed the role as the nations main source for the lincoln pennies. The 1952 production of 746,130,000 D-mint cents quadrupled the Philadelphia output. As a result, Denver struck more than one billion Lincolns in the late 1950s. Into the era of the 60s, Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco minted a total over 33 billion coins. The penny production didnt stop there. During the 70s, 80s, 90s and until now, there has been a total of about 363 billion pennies minted. This averages to about 1210 pennies per person in the United States. These numbers are just simply proposterous. A majority of these Lincolns have probably been trashed, thrown on the ground or located in unknown areas of homes and apartments. The penny is practically worthless to many people in our country. In a Gallup Poll of 1,002 adults conducted from June 11 of this year displayed shocking results. Nearly 75% of those adults would stop and pick a penny that is present on the ground. About 40% of men and 35% of women would walk passed a penny that is on any type of surface. This poll also found that 58 percent of Americans stash their pennies in piggy banks, jars and drawers. Some Americans redeem their cents at banks or coin-counting machines, but 2 percent admitted they toss them into the trash. They consider the penny a nuisance to many fellow Americans. This sentiment has been growing through recent years. The penny is basically obsolete and should be removed from American currency. Many penny supporters think there is not an inflation with the economy. The cent doesnt buy anything in todays market. It is merely a token used to make odd change during cash purchases. The customer may have to use the, Leave a penny, take a penny bowl next to the cash register for correcting the balance. The penny can be put back into the bowl if the customer doesnt accept the return of pennies. It is neater than throwing them on the ground outside the store or restaurant, as many people do. There have been politicians who are attempting to send the penny out the door. A U.S. representative from Arizona named Jim Kolbe wanted the cent to be abolished since 2001. He claims the penny is causing too much disruption in the economy resulting debts in the millions. On July 18 of this year, the Arizona Republican introduced a bill that will put the Lincoln coin into extinction. It is called the Industrious Nation Coin Act, which would exterminate the Lincoln penny, requiring the rounding up or down of all cash transactions to the nearest five cents. All check and credit card transactions would continue. The balances ending in one, two, six and seven cents would be rounded down, while those ending in three, four, eight and nine cents would round up. This would make the penny irrelevant in all cash purchases. With the uprising of the penny being abolished, theres also some problems with the nickel. The mint is charged 5.73 cents for each production of the nickel. This would cause prices on items to be rounded to the nearest dollar. Pschologically, this technique is used by many department stores across the country. An item costing $9.99 sounds a lot better than $10.00. Putting the price into double digits may influence the customer of declining the item that he/she wants. With the rising costs of the nickel, this could lead to rounding up prices to the nearest dime. Theres so many results that could happen in our countrys future. This change could lead to disastrous outcomes but satisfying ones as well. Today, the small cent is once again too expensive to produce, and too irrelevant to bother with. Eliminate the cent and round all cash purchases to the nearest nickel. There will not be a gain or a loss from two more cents on the transacastion. There won't be any dwelling over the situation. It is

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11/11/2011 1:01 AM

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time for the United States of America to grow up and abolish this meaningless Lincoln penny. The penny has been a complete fiasco. Let the cent go!

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11/11/2011 1:01 AM