Time to Eliminate the Penny

Ladies and gentlemen of the congress I stand here today to speak on resolution H. Should we eliminate the penny? My answer, and the correct answer is yes!

With that being said I’d like to move on and say why we should let this bill pass. Pennies cost 1.7 cents. This is almost the value of two pennies! The penny is beginning to cost to much and we simply cannot afford it.

According to the Washington Time “The cost of minting a penny is now more expensive than the coin is worth, once again raising the possibility that it is headed toward extinction.’ Also, now that the price of the raw materials exceeds the face value, there is a risk that coins will be illegally melted down for raw materials.

Not only does the penny just flat out cost to much but it wastes our money in other ways. With the average wage in the U.S. being about 17$ per hour it takes about two seconds to earn one cent. Thus, it is not worthwhile for most people to deal with a penny. If it takes only two seconds extra for the simple transaction that uses a penny, the cost of time wasted in the U.S. is about 3.65$ annually, about 1billion for all America.

Pennies are not accepted by all vending macchines or toll machines and pennies are generally not accepted in bulk. In addition, people often do not use cents to pay at all; they may simply use larger denominations and get cents in return. Pennies end up sitting in jars and are not in circulation. Economist Greg Mankiw says that "The purpose of the monetary system is to facilitate exchange, but... the penny no longer serves that purpose." Research by Robert Whaples, an economics professor at Wake Forest University, using data on nearly 200,000 transactions from a multi-state convenience store chain shows that rounding would have virtually no impact. Consumers would gain a tiny amount – about 1/40th of a cent per transaction. This also helps businessesThere has never been a coin in circulation in the U.S. worth as little as the penny is worth today. Due to inflation, as of 2007[update], a nickel is worth approximately what a cent was worth in 1972.[10] When the United States discontinued the half-cent coin in 1857, it had a 2008-equivalent buying power of 11¢.[11] After 1857, the new smallest coin was the cent, which had a 2008-equivalent buying power of 26¢. The nickel fell below that value in 1974; the dime fell below that value in 1980;[10] the quarter fell below that value in 2007..

For these many reasons the penny needs to be undoubtedly eliminated. Let us pass this bill. - parker hinton, and thats my say on this matter

paka of CO 8:57PM January 11, 2010