The US is getting rid of the penny
Vocab level: C1
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Many believe the penny is pesky and problematic,
saying that those coins worth one cent just don't make sense.
This week, President Donald Trump said he will order the US Mint to stop production of the penny,
mainly because they cost way more to make than they are actually worth to store, but...
does it really make sense to get rid of the penny?
Many others feel it does not.
Our Brian Todd lays out some of the pros and cons of eliminating our iconic 1-cent coin.
To some of us, they're a comfort, jingling in the pocket,
there if we need them at a convenience store or coffee shop to pay an exact amount.
To others, they're a nuisance, a never-used pest that we leave in a jar, a cup holder, or on the street.
Now, there's new momentum to get rid of the penny or at least stop producing it.
For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents.
This is so wasteful; it actually costs 3.7 cents to produce one penny,
according to a report last year from the US Mint.
One of the reasons anti-penny advocates, like Professor Robert Whaples, say it's time to end our ties to the penny:
You see that people consider them to be a nuisance, and they just don't bring them back into the store.
You see them lying on the sidewalk; people don't even pick them up.
Whaples argues that because many Americans don't bring pennies back to the store and spend them,
stores then run out of pennies, ask the banks for more,
then banks ask the US Mint to create more of a coin we're using less and less.
But Mark Weller, director of the pro-penny group Americans for Common Sense,
which is funded by a company that produces the metal discs that are used to make coins,
argues that getting rid of the penny would cause inflation,
because businesses would start rounding transactions to the nearest nickel
and would more likely try to round up than down.
Does President Trump have the power to unilaterally eliminate the penny?
Experts say he likely can order the Treasury Department to stop making new pennies,
but to stop the use of pennies already in circulation would take an act of Congress.
And the federal government would also have to buy back the already issued pennies, which would be expensive.
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