{"id":9564,"date":"2006-06-04T22:32:11","date_gmt":"2006-06-05T05:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/06\/04\/a-penny-earned.html"},"modified":"2006-06-04T22:32:11","modified_gmt":"2006-06-05T05:32:11","slug":"a_penny_earned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/04\/a_penny_earned.html","title":{"rendered":"A penny earned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should we abolish the penny?<\/a> Rep. Jim Kobe of Arizona thinks so, and with some good reason:<\/p>\n

Over half of the U.S. Mint’s coin production comes in the form of pennies, which are made of 97.5 percent zinc. Since the Mint doesn’t stockpile its inventory of materials, it is sensitive to fluctuations in zinc’s price.<\/p>\n

The cost of producing the coin has risen from .97 cent per penny in 2005 to 1.4 cent per penny. At that rate, the Mint would spend some $44 million producing pennies this year, nearly $14 million more than in 2005.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Zinc prices are up because of China going from a net exporter to a net importer — though that may only last a few years.<\/p>\n

Of course, it may not all be magnaminity from Kobe. Though the biggest opponents of the move have been Americans for Common Cents, which has ties to the zinc industry, Kobe represents Arizona, which is a copper producer, which, in turn, is the primary ingredient in nickels.<\/p>\n

(Everyone pause for the irony of copper-colored pennies being primarily zinc, while silvery nickels are primarily copper.)<\/p>\n

Kobe’s scheme is a little dodgy to consider. <\/p>\n

Kolbe’s 2001 legislation proposed that cash transactions ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents should be rounded down to the nearest 5 cents, while transactions ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents would round up. Credit and debit card transactions could still be valued to the nearest cent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay … I guess that makes sense: 0<\/strong> <1 <2 3> 4> 5<\/strong> <6 <7 8> 9> 0<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, evidently, something like this works just fine in Australia.<\/p>\n

Australia eliminated its one and two cent pieces in 1992 after a surge in the country’s consumer price index twenty years before eliminated their usefulness. The change affected only cash transactions — interest is earned and bills are paid to the cent.<\/p>\n

At the time of the transition, according to Michael Skully, Professor of Banking at Monash University in Melbourne, the Australian government kept a close watch for profiteering associated with the elimination of the penny, while the nation’s major retailers rounded totals down. The elimination of 1 and 2 cent pieces did not “disproportionately hurt the poor” as ACC asserts it would if rounding was imposed in the United States. “I certainly don’t recall any riots in the street when it happened,” said Skully.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For what it’s worth, nobody thinks the plan has any chance of success.<\/p>\n

(via Neatorama<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should we abolish the penny? Rep. Jim Kobe of Arizona thinks so, and with some good reason: Over half of the U.S. Mint’s coin production comes in the form of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":682,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/09\/01\/treasure.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":0},"title":"Treasure","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 1-Sep-01 7:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So there's this commercial on TV, on a \"treasure chest\" of rare coins, including at least a dozen wheat pennies. (Which reminds me, I found a 1946 wheat penny in...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27306,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/02\/see-a-penny-pick-it-up-eh.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":1},"title":"See a penny, pick it up, eh?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Apr-12 8:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I think the chances of the US getting rid of the penny are infinitisimal (like the value of the penny). Any attempt will be taken as The Gubbiment Trying to Steal Our Money (If It Were Good Enough for Abe Lincoln, It's Good Enough for Me!), and result in Tea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freakonomics.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2Fcanadapenny-300x199.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26450,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/16\/worth-every-penny.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":2},"title":"Worth every penny","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Feb-12 7:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Y'know, I don't care if it cost a million-zillion dollars, this sort of incredibly cool stuff is why a space program is worth every penny. #ddtb","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27436,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/17\/kobe-beef-its-not-whats-for-dinner.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":3},"title":"Kobe Beef: It's NOT what's for dinner!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Apr-12 6:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not in the US, at least. No matter what it says on the menu. It's similar to disputes with Europeans over labels like \"Parmesan Cheese\" that isn't Parma or Champagne that's not from, well, Champagne. No steak is imported from Japan to the US, and Japan doesn't export any authentic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130445,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/16\/mapping-kobe-bryant.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":4},"title":"Mapping Kobe Bryant","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 16-Apr-16 3:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is actually kind of fascinating. I'm not a basketball fan, but mapping out the location of every pro game basketball shot that the retiring Bryant took shows \/ confirms the patterns you might expect -- the 3-point line, the sides, lined up in front, at the basket itself, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137480,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/12\/18\/rip-penny-marshall.html","url_meta":{"origin":9564,"position":5},"title":"RIP, Penny Marshall","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Dec-18 1:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. I refuse to believe Penny Marshall was 75 years old. I mean, that would make me... (does math, blanches slightly).Thank you, ma'am, for the many hours of entertainment you gave me. Penny Marshall, co-star of 'Laverne & Shirley' and director of 'Big,' dead at 75 - CNN Actress Penny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}