Cost of Money

As of 2009, it costs the government 1.62 cents to produce a copper plated zinc penny (up from .008 cents in 2001), 6.03 cents to produce a nickel, 5.65 cents to produce a dime, 11.31 cents to produce a quarter, 30.4 cents to make the 'gold' (manganese/brass)dollar, and 6.4 cents to make a dollar bill.

In 2008 a bill was introduced known as the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008. This bill had proposed changing the composition of the cent to steel, although it would be treated to impart a copper color. The bill would have also provided the Secretary of the Treasury with authority to change the metallic content of the five cent coin. This bill was passed in the House, but never voted on in the Senate.

The 2011 Budget revives the issue and expands the scope to include the dime, quarter, and half dollar, in addition to the penny and nickel. The Department of the Treasury will have authorization to approve alternative weights and compositions for any of these five denominations. It hasn't passed yet, but a penny saved. . .

A Penny for your . . . Birdbath

Prevent algae from growing in a birdbath by tossing a few pre-1982 pennies into the water. The copper keeps the organisms from multiplying so fast.

Penny for Your Thoughts

The government spends 1.8 cents to make one penny and 9 cents to produce a nickel. Because metal prices have shot up lately, the cost to make these two coins is more than what they are worth as coins. This costs us an additional $100 million a year.

The government is loosening up its rules for what metals can be used to used to make coins. Using cheaper metal should help bring the cost of making one penny closer to one penny. Seems we should have respected the old axiom of 'take care of your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves'. Now we spend trillions of dollars and the pennies do not take care of themselves. Maybe we should change the politicians instead of changing the metals.

Penny for Your Thoughts

Did you know it costs the government 1.4 cents to make a penny. It produces 5.4 billion of them a year. Do you know why the government has to keep producing pennies? It is because of sales tax, which makes purchases cost an uneven amount, because tax is a percent of the price. The coin's name derives from the Old English pennige, pronounced, roughly, penny-yuh.

Can you see those initials under Lincoln's right shoulder? They are the initials of the designer. So, our infinitely wise government makes pennies, which it has to make because of taxes, and it loses money on each one, which cost us more income tax to pay for their production costs. My thoughts are to eliminate sales tax so our income tax will go down and we could get rid of pennies.