A Penny Stolen Is Worth More Than A Penny Earned

For as long as I can remember the penny has cost more to make than it is actually worth. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say that the cost of any coinage should be less than or equal to it's value because of the value of the metal itself. The point is that making pennies is a negative impact on the economy. Why continue to do something that produces less than what resources go into it?

There are so many arguments for it, such as all the people named Penny, the saying that a penny earned is a penny saved, and the historical tradition, but that sounds like garbage. Those same people who make those statements would never trade me $120 for nice crisp Benjamin, yet they continue to expect Americans to pay 1.23 cents per penny minted. How do they sleep at night? Well, that's obvious. Stubborn, ignorant people are never aware they are being idiots.

The solution seems so easy. Acknowledge inflation and get rid of them. Stop minting the penny, and the nickel for that matter. They are useless ideas backed by nothing. The metal that goes into the coins is not worth the coin either. The entire concept of a coin is that, no matter whether you use it as currency backed by the government or raw materials, it will always retain it's value. Ignoring collectors that is not true anymore. A penny is worth half a penny in raw material.

I'm not an idiot though. We have to account for stupidity and ignorance. People will not give up what they know out of logic but will continue to live in blissful ignorance. Instead we can take a different approach. Start off with allowing all commercial enterprises the right to round up to the nearest nickel. That's not fair you say because they will start making prices X dollars and X1 cents in order to make an extra 4 cents on every sale. Those who think that need to go back to school. There's a reason every price advertised ends in 99 cents, even though everyone knows that tax knocks it above that. People ignore extras and are always attracted to shinny things. They are more likely to buy something that is $1.99 then something that is $1.96.

In this way the government can slowly stop minting the lower coins, we can stop carrying around so much metal, and the lines at the airport security will move that much faster. See, everybody wins.