President Donald Trump posted on social media in the course of the Super Bowl Lix Get rid of the penny. Since the low penny costs in 2024 to make about 3.7 cents – This implies that the federal government loses money for each coin – the announcement could appear practical at first glance. But does the president have the facility to kill the Penny?
I’m a Business school professor And a long-time lawyer for physical money that has written op-EDs that supports the penny The Wall Street Journal And Cnn. My upcoming book “,”The power of cash“Examine the numerous benefits of using the old -fashioned currency. In inflation, nevertheless, inflation has reduced the worth of the Penny by a 3rd up to now ten years, and even I now admit that his time is over.
But eliminating the penny a few social media contribution just isn’t only legally doubtful. It could cause more problems than it solves.
The Penny problem
Critics see the cent as A shining example of state waste. Last 12 months the US coin lost 85 million US dollars Make a couple of pennies in line with the annual report of the office. It also lost about 18 million US dollars with nickel. To be clear simply because the mint has not made any money with Pennies or Nickels, that doesn’t mean that it loses money overall. The mint in 2024 made a profit of around $ 100 million make the country's pocket change. Nevertheless, 85 million US dollars should not a small sum.
In the meantime, public opinion on the Penny is split. Some surveys Show support for thisBut it has Many opponents. Many of my students indicate that “bumping coins” just like the Penny, as the explanation for switching from the usage of money.
The excellent news for many who don't just like the Penny is that the coin disappears alone. The US coin made around 5 billion pennies annually within the 2020s – after about 11 billion a 12 months within the nineties. So far it was only done in 2025 About 1 / 4 of one million Pennies.
But is it legal?
I feel only the congress can provide the variety of coins that the mint produces the issue with the president's command for the Penny.
Be fair, some Defense lawyer of the president's order Believe him Measures are legal. But the Article 1 of the US structure, Section 8 – This gives the congress the authority to do vital things like taxes, pay debts and to elucidate the war – also authorize the congress “money for coins”.
Now the expression “to coin money” is vague. To fix that Second congress of the United States passed the Mint Act of 1792that was signed by President George Washington within the law. The plot that determines how the coin works and what it produces have to be “Cents-Jewel's value of the hundredth part of a dollar and contain eleven Penny weights from copper”.
The congress can change this motion at any time – and it has it. The law of 1792 also needed to create the coin “half cent – each of half a cent”. These coins were eliminated in 1857 by an act of congress. Similarly, many US coins were manufactured from silver before 1965. After a 1965 Change of Congress They were constituted of a less expensive composite material for the farewell.
And the legislator has tried several times to eliminate the Penny. In 1989, for instance, Arizona Rep. Jim Hayes suggested the Price roundthat asked for the rounding of money purchases to the subsequent nickel. It's not over. In recent times in 2017, Republican Senator John McCain hired the coins actWhat would have eliminated Pennys. The invoice also proposed to modify the paper-in-dollar bill to a metal coin. It's not over either.
What happens when Pennies go?
Since the congress has not eliminated the Penny up to now, Trump tries to do that a few direct order to the finance minister. However, a lot of Trump's actions are contested in court. Let us assume for reasons of reasoning, no person calls for the order to kill the production of the Penny.
A giant problem stays. Even if the United States stopped making a number of cents, they might remain a proposal by law and other people would still need it as a change. The supply would change in easy words, but not the demand.
Past efforts to perform the Penny tried to resolve this problem by asking for rounds, but Trump's efforts don’t. I feel it is kind of possible that the individuals who oppose Trump, national days “demand their cent in change” to embarrass the president.
The US government loses lower than 10 million US dollars a month with pennies. In theory, the congress could adopt the laws that eliminates the Penny and demands rounds inside a month or two. The costs for the federal government for the legal fact are low. If the penny has to go, let the congress do it right.
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