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......Obama suggests he’s open to getting rid of the penny
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.By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News
Senior Political Reporter
.PostsEmailRSS .By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 1 hr 16 mins ago....Email0Share37
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Obama participates in a Google chat (Screenshot via YouTube)President Barack Obama says it may be time to get rid of the penny.

The copper 1-cent coin has long been criticized for being costlier to mint than it is worth. And with Americans using pennies less and less, some have questioned why the government hasn’t stopped producing them.

Asked whether the penny should be nixed during an online chat sponsored by Google, Obama bluntly admitted, “I don’t know.”

“It’s one of those things where I think people get attached emotionally to the way things have been,” the president said. “We remember our piggy banks and counting out all the pennies and then taking them and getting a dollar bill or a couple of dollars.”

Obama added that the penny is a “good metaphor” for the larger problems facing the federal government.

“This is not going to be a huge savings for government. But anytime we’re spending more money on something that people don’t actually use, that’s an example of something we should probably change,” Obama said. “One of the things that you see chronically in government is it’s very hard to get rid of things that don’t work so that we can then invest in the things that do.”

But, he acknowledged, getting rid of the penny is not one of his administration’s highest priorities.

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Seems reasonable. The costs avoided by getting rid of the penny aren't very significant, but I suppose it's nice hearing some acknowledgement about the situation.

I toured the Denver Mint in 2009 with my kids and someone asked the tour guide why they keep making pennies if they lose so much money doing it. His answer was that if they stopped making pennies it would cost too many jobs. I'm sure our elected officials are hesitant to upset the unions and lose these votes.

The president was a little off on his comment about "counting out all the pennies and then taking them and getting a dollar bill or a couple of dollars.” I think most of us end up with a bit more than a "couple of dollars" when we dump several bags of zinc.

Might as well get rid of the penny! The Realcenter peeps could corner this market.....unless someone by the name of Adam Youngs has already done that!

But it does make sense, financially. Why continue to make something that costs more than it is worth? The savings would help some, even if just a little.

Get rid of the penny?? never.
They are going to get rid of ALL physical money.
They want e-money only.
It's easier for them to control. [us]

Uh, Mr. President.... if we go to our change jar, take out pennies to the bank.. can't we still cash in 100 pennies and get a $1 bill?

The Zinc lobby has other ideas in mind.....probably not going to happen. I hope it does get eliminated though!

justoneguy wrote:Get rid of the penny?? never.
They are going to get rid of ALL physical money.
They want e-money only.
It's easier for them to control. [us]

Getting rid of the penny ≠ getting rid of all forms of physical money. Yes it's true that our society is trending towards electronic money and that is quite regrettable, but this is not a basis on which to defend the minting of such a worthless, inefficient disc. Like the President said, any time more money is spent on something that people don't hardly use, that's something that should be changed. It's something on which I actually agree with him.

OtusLotus wrote:Uh, Mr. President.... if we go to our change jar, take out pennies to the bank.. can't we still cash in 100 pennies and get a $1 bill?

There would be a massive public uproar if pennies were demonetized entirely. Canada, New Zealand, and all other nations who've stopped minting and circulating pennies continue to accept pennies at face value but just simply didn't/don't recirculate them. Meaning, once you possessed pennies you could never get any more but you could go to the bank and trade in the pennies for another form of currency.

Romalae wrote:

justoneguy wrote:Get rid of the penny?? never.
They are going to get rid of ALL physical money.
They want e-money only.
It's easier for them to control. [us]

Getting rid of the penny ≠ getting rid of all forms of physical money. Yes it's true that our society is trending towards electronic money and that is quite regrettable, but this is not a basis on which to defend the minting of such a worthless, inefficient disc. Like the President said, any time more money is spent on something that people don't hardly use, that's something that should be changed. It's something on which I actually agree with him.

I agree. I don't automatically think that just because it cost more to produce than it's worth, it should be stopped, but the penny could really be stopped now. We're on the sad road to a cashless society, but eliminating the penny isn't really a significant step in that direction... just a common sense reaction to inflation.

OtusLotus wrote:Uh, Mr. President.... if we go to our change jar, take out pennies to the bank.. can't we still cash in 100 pennies and get a $1 bill?

There would be a massive public uproar if pennies were demonetized entirely. Canada, New Zealand, and all other nations who've stopped minting and circulating pennies continue to accept pennies at face value but just simply didn't/don't recirculate them. Meaning, once you possessed pennies you could never get any more but you could go to the bank and trade in the pennies for another form of currency.

Yeah, that would be stupid and I'm sure it won't happen. One good thing about the coinage act of 1965 is that it made every coin and banknote ever issued legal tender, as they all should be (even if face value is quite irrelevant for anything before 1900).

SilverDragon72 wrote:But, he acknowledged, getting rid of the penny is not one of his administration’s highest priorities.

...

Providing a degree of relief to many government employees who happen to be
named Penny.