Monday, February 18, 2008

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With my deepest apologies to Abraham Lincoln....

My latest commentary for Marketplace concerns whether the penny should be abolished. In light of plagiarism accusations currently running rampant, I should acknowledge that I was "inspired" by a previously published work. Here's how it opens:

Four score and nineteen years ago, our national mint brought forth on this country a new coin, conceived to honor Abraham Lincoln, dedicated to the proposition that all coins bearing his image would be worth exactly one penny.

Now we are engaged in a great spike in the price of zinc and copper, testing whether this nation, frankly, can afford the penny any longer.....

You know it just gets worse from there.

Click here to listen to it... we were going for stentorian.

posted by Dan on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM




Comments:

And while we're at it, let's get rid of the nickel and the $1 bill, too. And find some way to get Visa and Mastercard to lower transanction fees so that the last holdouts against taking credit cards will cave.

posted by: Dave on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]



While i have not heard your marketplace comment, I have heard other economists call for the penny to be upgraded in value into a nickle. this was because of the cost of a recall and because coin money lasts remarkably longer than paper money....

posted by: anon on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]



Which suggests that there are some economists who have mighty big penny jars at home.

(Hey, with the housing bubble deflating, why not give someone else a chance to have an asset quickly appreciate to 5x its previous value?)

posted by: Mike S. on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]



If we get rid of the penny how am I supposed to check the tread on my tires?

posted by: Useless Sam Grant on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]



Given the long life of a penny -- 20 years? -- and the high cost of zinc, couldn't you just stop making them and let them wither away on a ten year cycle?

posted by: charlie on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]



Given the long life of a penny -- 20 years? -- and the high cost of zinc, couldn't you just stop making them and let them wither away on a ten year cycle?

posted by: charlie on 02.18.08 at 08:01 PM [permalink]






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