A Penny for Your Thoughts

I guess I've been living under a rock for the last couple of years because I just heard about the possibility of the government ceasing to make the penny. It seems the issue has been coming up for the last few years that it costs more to produce the penny then what it's worth--in 2012 it cost 2.41 cents to make. Some have estimated that we could save $75 million dollars a year if we do away with the penny. Another option is to change what the penny is made of--we've already altered it at least once. Before 1982 the penny was made of 95% copper and 5% zinc. To reduce the cost, the metal composition was changed to 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. In 2011 the government considered changing the metal composition to steel. But steel presents a problem where it can be magnetized. This past Thursday during an online chat with a random group of Americans, someone asked Obama why the US is still minting pennies when so many agree they are economically inefficient. "I gotta tell you ... I don't know," Obama said. "It's one of those things where I think people get attached emotionally to the way things have been ... We remember our piggy banks and counting up all our pennies and then taking them in and getting a dollar bill or a couple dollars from them, and maybe that's the reason why people haven't gotten around to it." Anyway, it's not a top priority for the President or Congress right now, so the debate will continue. If Congress does decide to take up the issue, they should also consider the nickel since it costs 11.18 cents to make.