"People still want pennies, which is why we're still making them,"

[MTHead-migration]

From this morning's CNN.com site:

 

Penny prices pinched by rising cost of metal

 

Pennies, nickels cost more to make than they're worth

House bill to change coins' composition stalls

Some say eliminating penny would be wise, but say it's politically impossible

Dime, quarter, dollar coins still produced for less than their value

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 7½ cents.

 

Prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress proposing steel-made pennies and nickels.

 

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II and maybe using steel for nickels, as well.

 

Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, whose subcommittee oversees the U.S. Mint.

 

Keeping the coin content means "contributing to our national debt by almost as much as the coin is worth," Gutierrez said.

 

A penny, which consists of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper, cost 1.26 cents to make as of Tuesday. And a nickel -- 75 percent copper and the rest nickel -- cost 7.7 cents, based on current commodity prices, according to the Mint.

 

That's down from the end of 2007, when even higher metal prices drove the penny's cost to 1.67 cents, according to the Mint. The cost of making a nickel then was nearly a dime.

 

Gutierrez estimated that striking the two coins at costs well above their face value set the Treasury and taxpayers back about $100 million last year alone.

 

A lousy deal, lawmakers have concluded. On Tuesday, the House debated a bill that directs the Treasury secretary to suggest a new, more economical composition of the nickel and the penny. A vote was delayed because of Republikan procedural moves and is expected later in the week.

 

Unsaid in the legislation is the Constitution's delegation of power to Congress "to coin money [and] regulate the value thereof."

 

The Bush administration, like others before, chafes at that.

 

Just a few hours before the House vote, Mint Director Edmund Moy told House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, that the Treasury Department opposes the bill as "too prescriptive" in part because it does not explicitly delegate the power to decide the new coin composition.

 

The bill also gives the public and the metal industry too little time to weigh in on the new coin composition, he said.

 

"We can't wholeheartedly support that bill," Moy said in a telephone interview. Moy said he could not say whether President Bush would veto the House version in the unlikely event it survived the Senate.

 

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colorado, who is retiring at the end of the year, is expected to present the Senate with a version more acceptable to the administration in the next few weeks.

 

The proposals are alternatives to what many consider a more pragmatic, but politically impossible solution to the penny problem: getting rid of the penny altogether.

 

"People still want pennies, which is why we're still making them," Moy said.

 

Even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged in a radio interview earlier this year that getting rid of the penny made sense but wasn't politically doable -- and certainly nothing he is planning to tackle during the Bush team's final months in office.

 

In 2007, the Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies and 1.2 billion nickels, according to the House Financial Services Committee.

 

Other coins still cost less than their face value, according to the Mint. The dime costs a little over 4 cents to make, while the quarter costs almost 10 cents. The dollar coin, meanwhile, costs about 16 cents to make, according to the Mint.

[DC Dawg]

A penny, which consists of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper, cost 1.26 cents to make as of Tuesday. And a nickel -- 75 percent copper and the rest nickel -- cost 7.7 cents, based on current commodity prices, according to the Mint.

 

That's down from the end of 2007, when even higher metal prices drove the penny's cost to 1.67 cents, according to the Mint. The cost of making a nickel then was nearly a dime.

These prices must include labor and other costs because according to coinflation.com, the cost of the metal to produce a cent is $0.0059997 and the cost for the nickel is $0.0680072 (there's more copper in the nickel).

 

Here's a thought... I wonder if it would be worthwhile to privatize the Mint? Think about it... the Royal Canadian Mint, Australian Royal Mint, and Royal Mint in Brittan are private companies owned by the crown. There are restrictions, but they do well. Pobjoy Mint is a private company that strikes coins for other countries on spec. Why not do the same with the US Mint? I throw this out for discussion.

 

Scott

[World Colonial]

Yes, you must be correct because while I do not know the price of zinc, it is cheaper than copper, copper is about $3.50 a pound and a pound of either can make a lot of cents.

 

The Queen of England owns those three mints? I did not know that. But I would have no problem privatizing the US Mint.

[DC Dawg]

The Queen of England owns those three mints? I did not know that. But I would have no problem privatizing the US Mint.

How do you think she stays rich?!

 

When I went to graduate school for public policy, I had several discussions with a professor about the differences in public policy between the US and other democratic republics. It was a very interesting conversation and I learned a lot about the countries under the Commonwealth Realm and their ties with the crown.

 

Scott

[Houston Investor]

Idk - I have a bunch of mixed change mainly for drive thrus in a huge cup holder space in my new red Mustang - lots of cents. But I noticed when I pick up my GF Jessica, 21 (been seeing her since January) she goes for the dollar coins not the cents. After our date on the way taking her to work to dance at the club, I noticed her trawling for some more dollar coins. I had dumped a fresh roll there and its probably about gone.

 

She knows value too - I showed her an 1880 NGC MS 62 $5 Lib and she wants that on a gold chain. I hate to ruin such a nice coin that way - think if I get a raw AU slider and put it on a chain she will notice? I have spent way over budget this month on her so far - what am I to do?

[Revenant]

Idk - I have a bunch of mixed change mainly for drive thrus in a huge cup holder space in my new red Mustang - lots of cents. But I noticed when I pick up my GF Jessica, 21 (been seeing her since January) she goes for the dollar coins not the cents. After our date on the way taking her to work to dance at the club, I noticed her trawling for some more dollar coins. I had dumped a fresh roll there and its probably about gone.

 

She knows value too - I showed her an 1880 NGC MS 62 $5 Lib and she wants that on a gold chain. I hate to ruin such a nice coin that way - think if I get a raw AU slider and put it on a chain she will notice? I have spent way over budget this month on her so far - what am I to do?

 

Step 1 would be to find a new GF.

[astrostu]

Idk - I have a bunch of mixed change mainly for drive thrus in a huge cup holder space in my new red Mustang - lots of cents. But I noticed when I pick up my GF Jessica, 21 (been seeing her since January) she goes for the dollar coins not the cents. After our date on the way taking her to work to dance at the club, I noticed her trawling for some more dollar coins. I had dumped a fresh roll there and its probably about gone.

 

She knows value too - I showed her an 1880 NGC MS 62 $5 Lib and she wants that on a gold chain. I hate to ruin such a nice coin that way - think if I get a raw AU slider and put it on a chain she will notice? I have spent way over budget this month on her so far - what am I to do?

 

Step 1 would be to find a new GF.

 

I'm glad someone said that before me, but that's what I was thinking when I read Parker's post. She sure sounds like a gold-digger, almost literally in this case. Has she bought you anything? I don't think chivalry is dead nor should die necessarily, but I believe in equality here.