{"id":2401053,"date":"2025-02-10T14:32:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T19:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-trump-wants-the-treasury-to-stop-minting-the-penny\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T14:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T19:38:21","slug":"why-trump-wants-the-treasury-to-stop-minting-the-penny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-trump-wants-the-treasury-to-stop-minting-the-penny\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Trump wants the Treasury to stop minting the penny"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-trump-wants-the-treasury-to-stop-minting-the-penny%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2401053&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced his decision to stop \u2064the minting of pennies in the United States, labeling them as &#8220;wasteful.&#8221; He highlighted that the cost of producing pennies has surpassed\u200b thier actual value, with it costing the government $1.43 to mint \u2064a dollar&#8217;s worth in 2016 and over three times the coin&#8217;s value by 2023. Trump emphasized the importance of eliminating\u2064 such inefficiencies from the federal budget, even if it is indeed\u2062 just &#8220;a penny at a time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The discussion about discontinuing the penny dates back to the \u200dlate 1970s, with various\u200d financial experts and former President Barack Obama indicating that maintaining the penny reflects\u2063 governmental inefficiencies.Millions of dollars are lost annually to mint unused pennies, which frequently enough end up \u200din \u200duncirculated storage. Critics of discontinuing the penny fear it \u200dcould result in increased prices for consumers, as prices may round up from 99\u200c cents. However, some economists argue that this would stabilize over time.<\/p>\n<p>Many citizens hold sentimental value for the penny,\u2064 especially\u2063 the Lincoln penny, which \u2064features a past figure \u2064and the motto &#8220;In God We Trust.&#8221; Despite its inefficacy, there is a critically\u200d important attachment to the \u200ccoin, suggesting that any effort to cease minting it may meet public resistance. The overall impact on the national budget from discontinuing pennies would be minimal, as \u200blarger denominations generate far more revenue.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Why Trump wants the Treasury to stop minting the penny<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1983985\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>On Sunday evening, President Donald Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3315331\/trump-orders-treasury-stop-wasteful-production-pennies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">announced<\/a> that the United States would cease minting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">pennies<\/a>, calling the coin &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-government-efficiency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">wasteful<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,&rdquo; Trump posted on Truth Social. &ldquo;This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let&rsquo;s rip the waste out of our great nation&rsquo;s budget, even if it&rsquo;s a penny at a time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, minting a dollar&rsquo;s worth of pennies cost the federal government $1.43. Just seven years later, the price to produce a single penny is more than three times the coin&rsquo;s value, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jmbullion.com\/investing-guide\/numismatics\/cost-of-producing-a-penny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">according<\/a> to JM Bullion, an online retailer of metals. In 2023, the U.S. Mint lost $179 million in producing pennies that likely just ended up in car cupholders and fountains.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even former President Barack Obama said minting pennies reflects the government&rsquo;s inability to prioritize what is most important and useful for our nation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Anytime we&rsquo;re spending more money on something that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/strong-turnout-in-frances-high-stakes-elections-as-support-for-the-far-right-grows-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Strong turnout in France\u2019s high-stakes elections as support for the far right grows - Washington Examiner\">people don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t actually use, that&rsquo;s an example of something we should probably change,&rdquo; Obama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=president+obama+against+pennies+metaphor&amp;sca_esv=aa4709d8f74669be&amp;rlz=1C5GCCM_en&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjOwZWTx7mLAxU3j4kEHWyMIIoQ0pQJegQIBhAD&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=812&amp;dpr=2#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:4198cb82,vid:Mx-KdaJBSEA,st:0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">said<\/a> in 2013. &ldquo;And one of the things that you see chronically in government is it&rsquo;s very hard to get rid of things that don&rsquo;t work so that we can then invest in the things that do. The penny ends up being, I think, a good metaphor for some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/citizens-object-to-2020-election\/\" title=\"Citizens Object To 2020 Election\">larger problems<\/a> that we&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Talks of discontinuing the penny <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">have been ongoing since the late 1970s, when then-Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon wrote a letter to lawmakers requesting that they &ldquo;give serious consideration&rdquo; to ditch minting the penny. In the 1977 letter, Simon suggested that the coin should be discontinued &ldquo;no later than 1980,&rdquo; according to&nbsp;<\/span>the <em>New York Times<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It is estimated that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">240 billion pennies lie dormant<\/a> in the U.S., equivalent to $7.24 worth of pennies for every person in the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, Philip Diehl, then-director of the U.S. Mint, reported that between 1969 and 1999, two-thirds of the pennies produced dropped out of circulation. Pennies produced today will soon be lost, thus creating a never-ending cycle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, if all these pennies stored away in piggy banks and jars were brought to the local CoinStar machines or banks, it could cause major problems since there would be a lack of space to store the coins in government vaults. Mint officials said the resurfacing of these out-of-circulation pennies would be &ldquo;logistically unmanageable.&rdquo; Moving the pennies would be extremely costly. For instance, $100 worth of pennies weighs over 55 pounds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If the U.S. ceased minting pennies, the overall savings would be negligible in the grand scheme of things. Minting pennies costs the federal government $179 million, and minting dimes, quarters, and half dollars generates more than $433 million in revenue. However, the money generated from minting coins still represents less than a fraction of 1% of the government&rsquo;s $6.13 trillion budget.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Opponents of discontinuing the penny say it would actually create a 1-cent tax on products and services, as most retailers list prices at 99 cents instead of rounding up. However, an analysis conducted by Robert Whaples, a Wake Forest economist, in 2007 revealed that, in the long run, it evens out how often prices are rounded up and rounded down.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The last digit&rsquo;s pretty random,&rdquo; Whaples said.<\/p>\n<p>While few people rely on pennies to make purchases, many people hold the 1-cent coin in high regard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A 2014 YouGov <a href=\"https:\/\/today.yougov.com\/news\/2014\/01\/10\/poll-results-pennies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">poll<\/a> revealed that 71% of people would bend over to pick up pennies off the ground and that 43% said they would be &ldquo;disappointed&rdquo; or &ldquo;angry&rdquo; if the government discontinued making them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The penny also features President Abraham Lincoln, who has appeared on the penny since 1909. The Lincoln penny is also the coin that includes the phrase &ldquo;In God We Trust.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You find out fast how much people care about coins the moment you start talking about removing [Lincoln],&rdquo; Diehl told the <em>New York Times<\/em>. &ldquo;All of a sudden, there are a <em>lot<\/em> of people who care about coins.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1983985\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1983985\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump calls for an end to penny minting, citing waste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2542,"featured_media":2401054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pennies-.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13703,13123,22695,3778,3634],"class_list":["post-2401053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-currency","tag-economics","tag-penny","tag-treasury","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pennies-.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2401053"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2401057,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401053\/revisions\/2401057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2401054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2401053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2401053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2401053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}