Abolish The Penny Essay

The penny that has been in circulation since the 1700’s should not be done away with. The first reason being that greed is a motive for some. Second, the penny is very important to our nation's history. and third, although being under constant pressure and criticism from people like William Safire, the penny is still popular with a majority of citizens, and most of the info on pennies is false.

Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican, has tried multiple times to propose, and pass legislation that would not ban, but “discourage” the use of pennies by rounding price’s up or down to help dull down our need of pennies. When we dig deeper into the facts, we find Kolbe might just be trying to get his state more money, as the penny is 97.5% zinc, and

“Kolbe’s home state of Arizona is rich in copper-which makes up a bigger percentage of the larger-denomination coins that might be more heavily used if the penny were discontinued.” (Lewis) So Kolbe is obviously just trying to benefit his state, and take away from Tennessee. Also, according to the (Harris Poll) more rich people say that they’d like the penny gone, than the lower income participants.

The penny has been in print for around 300 years, and our penny, with Abe is over 100 years old.

Why should we end this? It’s such an old piece of American history, kids like to save them up. Who cares if they’re out of circulation for awhile? According to (Safire) 10 million pennies are punched out everyday. The penny also honors Abraham Lincoln. Michael Bishop, executive director of the Bicentennial Commission said “The penny is perhaps the most visible and tangible reminder of Lincolns significance in American history” (Press Release)

In source C William Safire says many things, including “Two thirds of them immediately drop out of circulation”(Safire) He also states that America is “among the last of the industrialized nations to abolish the peskiest little bits of coinage”(Safire) While these both sound like decent arguments, they’re both untrue. Weller says “Mr.Safire’s inaccuracies about the penny circulation and other countries use of low denomination coins must be corrected.”(Weller) He starts by countering the claim that we’re among the last industrialized country to rid of our lower denomination coin. Weller says “In the major industrialized countries, including Great Britain, Canada, Japan, and the U.S and Europe, the penny/ penny equivalent remains in production”(Weller) He then moves on to say “Two thirds of the pennies do not “immediately” drop out of circulation”(Weller) he says only about 5.6% drop out. The media has very, partisan views most of the time, so while Weller is in an interest group, I’ll give him the benefit of the

doubt.

And that is, why we should not abolish the penny, and I can’t see why you would want to, unless you’re a rep. who just wants more money/jobs for his state, or interest group. Or if you don't care about your change, or American history. And if you believe all of Safire’s claims, you can change your position on that too, as Weller countered all of his claims, and showed he was pulling facts out of who know where.