Is President Obama gunning for the penny?
The commander in chief expresses support for getting rid of our least-valuable coin, which costs more to produce than it's worth.
If President Barack Obama has any say in it, the United States is going to lose its cents.
The subject came up during a Google+ hangout with Obama that was advertised as a "fireside" chat, reminiscent of FDR's famous radio addresses.
One participant asked the president why the U.S. hasn't yet phased out the coin, according to Business Insider.
"I gotta tell you, John, I don't know," Obama replied. "Any time we're spending more money on something that people don't actually use, that's an example of something we should change."
If the U.S. dumps the penny, it would be following its neighbor to the north. The Royal Canadian Mint earlier this month halted distribution of the pennies to banks and other financial institutions, with the goal of eventually phasing out the tiny coin from distribution. The reason? The penny costs Canada 1.6 pennies to make, turning it into a money-losing proposition.
The situation is similar for the U.S., where in 2011 it cost the country 2.4 cents to manufacture each coin. According to a group called the Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny, the country spent almost $120 million in 2011 to produce $50 million worth of coins.
Dropping the penny would produce savings, but overall the amount would be tiny compared with the government's $3.5 trillion in annual spending.
That hasn't escaped Obama's attention.
"This is not going to be a huge savings for government," he noted on the Google+ hangout.
Of course, the penny's fate isn't up to Obama. The U.S. Mint, which makes the coins, is a federal agency, and getting rid of the coin would take an act of Congress.
Obama seems to realize that getting rid of the coin wouldn't be easy.
"One of the things you see chronically in government, it's very hard to get rid of things that don't work so then we can invest in the things that do," he said, according to Business Insider. "So the penny becomes a good metaphor for a lot of the problems that we've got."
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One of the things you see chronically in government, it's very hard to get rid of things that don't work so then we can invest in the things that do.....
Dont we know it, Obama being one of these things.
Looks like there were more moochers at the polls than there were workers ( aka tax payers).
Here's a thought, if you're thinking seriously. I make $110,100 in 2012. I paid roughly $4642 in Federal Social Security taxes and the company paid more. The CEO of our company made 12.1 million. He pays the identical amount of Socila Security taxes I did. The corporation paid the exact same amount for each of us into Social Security. Our Medicare contributions were different, but with his company perks, he's never going to pay a nickel at a hospital for the rest of his life.
So why not make the top 2% pay their fair share. I'm not talking taxing them extra. I'm not talkig about going after their stock dividends or the money left to them by their parents or the money they're leaving to their kids. I'm just talking about the salary they make. Make them pay the same percentage into social security I do. No cutoff at $110,100. Company matching is increased also. Keep the maximum payout at it is now. If people with no kids have to pay school taxes, then people who'll never need social security or medicare should pay in to keep the system solvent.
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