Abolish the Penny

Abolish the Penny Between 2001 and 2006, there has been an increase of .6 cents for the reproduction of the penny. This increase displays economic problems that may lead to fatal ones. The penny is composed of 2% copper and 98% zinc. These elements are exponentially in demand causing the price of these materials to skyrocket. Many Americans think the penny is putting our country in jeopardy with financial losses. This meaningless coin is losing money for the mint, and should be abolished. The penny costs 1.4 cents to manufacture each time at the mint. This is causing the mint to lose money for the treasury. Last year, the mint earned $730 million dollars in profit. Many mint officials claim the estimation will be about $45 million due to the cost of metals made in pennies. Our country is continuing to have a very strong economy with the stock markets going up. The penny might affect these benefits from the rapid production of these coins. Copper and zinc are the main elements that compose the penny. With the rising costs of these elements, the economy may back up a bit. Because of this, the U.S. mint should reduce their penny production. The Lincoln penny has produced excessive amounts that is resulting outrageous mintages into the billions. While the cent production has suprassed the one billion count in the 1950's, a change has taken place. The Denver Mint had assumed the role as the nation's main source for the lincoln pennies. The 1952 production of 746,130,000 D-mint cents quadrupled the Philadelphia output. As a result, Denver struck more than one billion Lincolns in the late 1950's. Into the era of the 60's, Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco minted a total over 33 billion coins. The penny production didn't stop there. During the 70's, 80's, 90's and until now, there has been a total of about 363 billion pennies minted. This averages to about 1210 pennies per person in the United States. These numbers are just simply