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President Barack Obama finally broke his silence on an issue of national importance Friday – he thinks it’s time to retire the penny.
The possible extinction of the one-cent coin was a featured economic question in a Google+ Hangout with the Commander in Chief last week as John Green, the co-creator of a popular YouTube channel, applied a little presidential peer pressure.
“Australia, Canada, New Zealand, many other countries have gotten rid of their pennies,” Green said. “Why haven’t we done it?”
“I gotta tell you, John, I don’t know,” Obama responded, adding, “Anytime we’re spending money on something people don’t actually use, that’s an example of things we should probably change.”
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But why should anyone care? They’re pennies. Aren’t there more valuable things to worry about?
First, pennies actually cost more to make than they’re worth. In 2012, every penny cost 2.41 cents to make – more than twice their face value.
And as zinc and copper – materials used in minting the penny – have become costlier due, in part, to manufacturing shifts in China, which are likely to raise costs further.
Granted, the total cost of minting pennies was only $58 million last year – less than one-tenth of a percent of total federal spending in 2012 – but groups like Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny have long been making the economic case for getting rid of the penny (plus, the group adds, fishing for pennies adds about 2 seconds to each cash transaction per day).
And the U.S. military has already decided they’re essentially useless; all Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores on bases round all cash purchases up or down to the nearest nickel.
With both parties looking for ways to cut government spending, it seems as though cutting penny production could be a relatively painless, if insignificant, place to start. But in the Google+ Hangout, Obama ceded that Washington has bigger fiscal fish to fry.
“The penny is an example of something that I need legislation for,” he said. “And, frankly, given all of the big issues that we have to deal with day-in/day-out, a lot of times it just doesn't -- you know, we're not able to get to it.”
There have actually been efforts to pass penny-banning legislation. Back in 2001, then-Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) introduced the “Legal Tender Modernization Act,” which would have made pennies obsolete by requiring retailers to round up or down to the nearest nickel on cash purchases.
That bill failed, and Kolbe’s second attempt in 2006, the “Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act,” after zinc costs nearly doubled, met a similar fate.
But the president doesn’t need Congress to explore other, cheaper alternatives to zinc – the main metal in pennies. In fact, the administration’s 2013 budget encourages the Treasury to “explore, analyze, and approve new, less-expensive metals for all circulating coins like aluminum, iron and lead.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Abe Lincoln’s coin got a makeover. Back in 1982, the penny changed from 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.
(And lest so-called “penny hoarders” try to melt that valuable pre-1982 copper down, the Mint in 2006 prohibited the melting of pennies and nickels. It also made it a crime to carry more than $5 in one and five-cent coins out of the country).
Changes to the composition of pennies do have Congressional champions: Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers (R) introduced the “Cents and Sensibility Act” in December 2011, which would mandate that pennies were out of American steel (much of which comes from the Buckeye State) and dipped in copper.
But these efforts will be met with some serious resistance from the zinc lobby (yes, there is one). The company Jarden Zinc, which creates “metal and zinc coinage,” according to its website, paid lobbyist Mark Weller $340,000 in 2012 to discuss issues related to “minting/money/gold standard” with members of Congress and the Mint, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Weller also represents the pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents, whose website warns of the risk of inflation that eliminating the penny would bring, and whose headquarters are on K Street, known for its many D.C. lobbyist offices.
“Americans for Common Cents aims to inform and educate policymakers, consumers, and the media about the penny’s economic, cultural, and historical significance,” the group’s website reads.
The political power of the penny is likely another reason Obama hasn’t acted on getting rid of it. As far back as 2008, when he was still a candidate, the “penny lobby” appeared to mystify Obama.
Asked about it at a town hall in Pennsylvania, he said, “We have been trying to eliminate the penny for quite some time -- it always comes back,” joking, “I need to find out who is lobbying to keep the penny.”
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:51 PM EST
Leave a Comment:
He kills everything else he touches. I'm sure the penny will not be an insurmountable obstacle.
Joe Biden wants to know what he's going to put into his PENNY LOAFERS now....meteor rocks?? lol
What were seeing are conservatives doing what they do best --- bitching about President Obama. He wants to do away with the penny, like Canada did years ago, they bitch about it. He plays golf with Tiger – they bitch about it. He talks about education, they bitch about it. They even bitch about things that won’t happen. One of their latest fantasies they’re bitching about is somehow President Obama is going to amend the Constitution and run for a 3rd term. You name it – conservatives bitch about it. That’s the one thing they are good at – bitching.
@ Charlie- Isn't bitching, pissing and moaning etc... a DEM thing?
Hey Charlie... if the moron stayed out on the golf course for the next four years playing with himself....he couldn't help but help our economy!!! Let the stupid incompetent bastard golf for the next four years!!
"Charlie- Isn't bitching, pissing and moaning etc... a DEM thing?"
i pay 6.35% in Ct. now they want .10. :"F" them, obama and his tax, tax, and more tax, why should we pay down any debt, their should be no debt that belongs to the tax payer, we paid in advance the idiots just over spent, everyone except clinton. mmmm. a democrat that didn't over spend, damn, but obama made up for that now didn't he, keep feeding the illegals and we will not have a retirement or medicare it will go to them to feed, healthcare and house them. impeach obama already. they bought all the voting machines from chuck Hagel's company, now it's payback time for him i'll give you a job to run the pentagon down the toilet for me winning the presidency>
http://shiftfrequency.com/dhs-insider-obamas-cyber-warriors-preparing-for-collapse/
The blame game on everyone else is really getting old!!!! Will, and if this so called president can stand on his own? I think I already know the answer and it's a sad one at that. We are in deep sh....t!
Hell he's killed the dollar
may as well take out the penny as well
Doesn't matter much anyway since this simple ass has been in the White House, our dollars are worth pennies as it is.
I just hope we don't go with the currency of his native born Country... beads and and cow turds.
Nothing wrong with a black president...we just chose the wrong black president. I like tea! And we would welcome a Ben Carson type.
I agree and wish Herman Kain would stayed in the race in 2012.... would have loved seeing bumper stickers reading: " VOTE FOR THE BLACK WITH A BRAIN THIS TIME"
You will probably find out that the Penny Lobby has been "donating" big time to the Demo-Rats and Obama!
Why not? He's killed the rest of the economy by killing incentives for those of us who work and giving it to those who don't.
obama better be careful.......after he ruins the economy, pennies is all the american people have left.....someone impeach this clown..
Please get rid of all metal coins. What can you get with a quarter anyway? And I hate carrying change around.
@ Jobseeker
Classifieds?
Jobseeker
With a quarter?..... how about three dates with Nancy Pelosi??
[a whole dollar gets it reduced to one date with her]
@ Disappoint.......How old are you? People haven’t used classifies in decades.
Jobseeker=Classifieds..... Get it now?
A paper costs $1.50. A quarter won't cut it.
isn't it just great to see obama uniting the american people?....NOT!........obama is poison to our nation....
People like you is poison to our nation
Did they skip English Grammar in your home School Veronica?
Right? Keep snapping those Facebook pics, Veronica.
Ironic... A Black President, killing the white president, who freed the slaves.
yeah, let's do away with the measly penny. It's not worth much and, besides, we're dealing with numbers in the trillions and soon to be quadrillions at this rate.
"Can Obama manage elimination of one-cent coin". He's on the verge of eliminating the dollar, so why not the penny?
He did try to get them to mint a $1 trillion coin lmao!! It's a straight-across trade!
Only if they round everything DOWN!
Conservatives immediately are outraged on principle... the principle to get outraged at anything and everything about Obama, even legislation they themselves originally championed...
(fun fact: the controversial health insruance 'individual mandate' was initially introduced, and championed by the GOP in the early 90s. They dropped it only after democrats agreed with them...)
You republicans are too funny
You libs are too "red" and too stupid!
and thats why you all are known as the stupid party right?
to be known by a bunch of morons as ANYTHING is meaningless, Veronica. Just like President Hope Dope's promises.
The stupid party comments came from a republican so i guess your right. Btw why are the republicans in a civil war again
Lil Michelle
Just wait till Obama's third term, when we really start getting things done
Above might be a far right/tea party type...anyway...didn't the dems say the same thing about Bush/Cheney about creating a conspiracy so that they could have a 3rd term
Obama would win a 3rd term with the type of canidates he goes against
Veronica
Wouldn't it be nice again to have a President and Vice President with I.Q.s higher than their neck sizes???
"didn't the dems say the same thing about Bush/Cheney about creating a conspiracy so that they could have a 3rd term"
I don't remember that. I do remember the right circulating a rumor in 2000 that Bill Clinton was going to start a race war, then declare marshal law and call off the 2000 election. What's funny is how scared some right wingers are about an Obama 3rd term. I suppose that's because you know you don't have a candidate who could win against him. After all -- Republicans have lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 Presidential elections.
He can not run for a third term according to the Constitution.......but I don't put it past the dictator to sign another executive order giving him that possiblity. But then the military will arrest him!
Its not the perogative of the president to get rid of the penny. He is not a king. We will not be assimilated.
I've been saying for 20 years that we need to abandon the penny. No other country has coins with denominations this small. Round everything up to a dime, and get rid of the nickel as well!
Someone must be using Penny's, Compared to other federal programs this is the most cost efficient. If Obama really wants to save money get rid of Obama-care.
Bill Clinton was alarmed when he found out they were getting rid of ... "Penny".... for a second he thought it was one of the White House interns he was banging.
Good one Bob. Did you hear that George Bush and Bill Clinton has a spelling contest. Bush won. It seems Clinton thought harass was 2 words.
However -- if Bill Could run again, he would win in a landslide.
good one Charlie! Maybe "ole Yeller" Bill could run again.... Hillary's still recovering from that concussion she got when someone broke the ugly stick over her head.
One good thing about Clinton coming back....he would be against guns like Obummer is....actually only one gun Bill was against....terrified actually.... the one he would have been issued to CARRRY IN VIETNAM!
"the one he would have been issued to CARRRY IN VIETNAM!"
Or the one that would have been issued to Newt or Cheney or W or the rest of the chicken-hawks.
Joe Biden's I.Q. really puts meaning into the old saying...."a penny for your thoughts" That's about all that moron's deepest thoughts are worth today!
I wonder what his is compared to GWB. My money on Biden
GWB graduated from Harvard and Yale.......and was the ONLY United States President to do so!
did you libs ever come up with Biden's high school diploma yet?
They are still looking for Barry's birth certificate, haha.....
I guess Obama didnt graduate from Harvard. Btw GWB was a below averaged student
@ Veronica- So was Einstein
Lmao yea compare bush to einstien, now thats funny
Veronica.....
Do you have your high school diploma??
I actually have a degree in marketing frOM UCLA. But tell me about your education
Actually? You were hosed.
Better than that and with your "marketing degree" I would think you could fabricate a better argument of "selling" your foreign born socialist president to all the normal people posting here. [libs don't count as normal]
ummm ok weirdo. I dont need to sell anything, Obama already beat your sorry party TWICE. But i can tell you didnt finish High School or get anywhere nnear a college. Its seems that only hillbillies believe Obama wasnt born here. So go put on your foil hat and listen to glenn beck
@ Bob. She didn't get it.
libs never do.... the only thing they really get and rarely miss are their welfare checks..... Disappointed
Yea i'm 25 and I guarantee that I make more money than you by atleast 5 figures so use that welfare stuff somewhere else loser. You all say the exact same thing and its really lame and pathetic
Your age explains your ridiculous comments.
Backhouse, I don't think you exist in the same reality portal as the rest of us, but I will give Obama credit: that is the first sensible thing he has said since he began his career in politics. I don't know much about his life before that, so I can't comment. I understand he was a major loadee in Hawaii though, so he probably didn't have much sense then either.
Talk about the Government pinching pennies without cutting any of the big stuff. With so many under and unemployed Americans scraping coins off the road to pay for basics like food, poor people will have to use more quarters if we abolish the pennies, and pretty soon pay more transaction fees to get $20 bills out of the ATM machine. Maybe if the Government lived within its means like everyone else, they wouldn't have to inflate the currency to the point of worthlessness.
This is simply another attempt by the Government and Banks to manipulate the money system in order to squeeze more money from the poor. Like it or not, minting coins and funding the Post Office are some of the very duties that our Founding Forefathers put into the Constitution and to see the Government neglecting its duties in order to fund corrupt outsized programs like Medicare and overpriced wonder weapons for the Pentagon, they would just be appalled. The Federal Government needs to stop with the accounting fraud and live within a real budget, and that means telling the truth that we can't have everyone living off of Social Security and Medicare.