Donald Trump And Elon Musk's DOGE Tells The Treasury To Stop Minting Pennies Calling It 'Wasteful Spending' In Move Closer Towards Cashless Society
Last year it roughly cost 3.69 cents to produce one penny, leaving a deficit of over 2 cents.
It is no secret that for a long time now that each time the Treasury Department mints new pennies the federal government runs at a deficit, and for some time there has been constant debate whether or not to officially scrap the penny to cut those losses. However, it finally appears that the penny is going by the wayside after President Donald Trump revealed that he has instructed the Treasury to stop producing pennies.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social:
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time.”
Pennies can still be used in ordinary transactions, but the supply of new ones is likely to be coming to an end.
Though slightly varying amounts are being reported, last year it roughly cost 3.69 cents to produce one penny, leaving a deficit of over 2 cents. Other coins’ mint cost is on the rise as well. Govmint reported in October of last year that “the nickel's unit cost increased by 19.4%, now costing 13.78 cents to produce; the dime's unit cost increased by 8.7%.; and the quarter's unit cost increased by 26.2%.”
CNBC noted in a report:
According to the Federal Reserve, there are 114 billion pennies in circulation, or $1.14 billion, or 0.006% of the money in circulation. It costs $192 million a year to produce pennies, about 4% of the Mint's operating budget but only 0.00003% of the U.S. federal budget. This expense makes the penny expendable, according to economists.
David Gulley, an economics professor at Bentley University, said the estimated cost of making a penny, at around three cents, is an economic burden, "because millions vanish under couch cushions each year, the U.S. Mint must produce a steady stream of replacements."
Pennies were first federally minted beginning in 1793 and were made completely of copper, whereas now the coin is primarily zinc coated with 2.5% copper, according to the U.S. Mint.
Fortune reported roughly two weeks ago that Elon Musk, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), indicated that they planned to scrap the penny soon.
The United States would certainly not be the first nation to scrap the penny. Countries such as Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, among others, have scrapped the penny. In Canada, which stopped producing pennies in 2013, rounds up to the nearest five cents per the total transaction, not each individual item.
The same thing would occur in the U.S. Prof. Gulley told CNBC “prices would have to be rounded to the nearest five cents to allow for cash payments and correct change received back — that will be the end of $6.99 fast food combo meals," he explained. But companies could also round down, and that could create small temporary inflation, other economics academics allege.
"Businesses might round up more often than down, leading to a slight inflationary effect," said David Smith, an economics professor at Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School. However, he noted that some studies have indicated that rounding prices to the nearest nickel does not lead to any real meaningful inflation.
CNBC also noted:
Canada's experience in eliminating the penny shows there are some additional costs for consumers to bear. A 2017 paper by Canadian economist Christina Cheung found that penny-rounding in grocery transactions imposed a "rounding tax" of approximately $3.27 million, from Canadian consumers to grocery vendors. For a typical grocery store, though, this amounted to an estimated additional revenue of $157, indicating a minimal impact on individual consumers.
Even though Americans are increasingly embracing using less and less cash - falling below 20% and expected to slide further - the penny pinch will be felt the most by those who predominantly pay with physical paper notes and coins.
"The individuals paying for this benefit will be those who purchase products and services using cash and will continue to do so going forward because they are either unbanked or unable to access debit or credit cards or a digital wallet," Ajay Patel, a professor of finance at Wake Forest University School of Business, explained.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The penny is just the start. CNBC went on to quote Nate Throckmorton, an associate professor of economics at William & Mary, who warned what people really ought to pay attention to is the nickel. "It's the nickel we should worry about," he said. ‘It takes three cents to make a penny, but 11 cents to make a nickel,’ CNBC reported.
It starts with a penny, then the nickel, then the dime - ‘and while we’re at it, who needs coins? And then you know what? Who needs small denomination notes like $1s and $5s?
It is true that minting a penny causes us to lose hundred millions annually, and this has been debated for many years now, but once the penny is cut then the snowball effect begins.
But let’s get serious:
James 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. [16] For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. [17] But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Trump and Musk keep railing about “wasteful spending,” as Trump shells out $500 billion for AI project Stargate; a massive endeavor to kill people with mRNA cancer vaccines, and laying off tens of millions of workers with AI in the process; or never-ending and ever-increasing military spending, and “foreign aid,” and so on and so forth. That will never get cut. When Musk’s fanbase cheers at the sound of cutting tens of millions, know and remember that the federal has become accustom to spending hundreds of billions and trillions like it’s water: we are $37 trillion in federal debt, after all, and paying $1 trillion every 100 days to service that debt.
Furthermore, instead of cutting the penny (and eventually other physical tender and coinage), let’s ask, why are we not attempting to enact policies to strengthen the currency’s value and parity? But as I have pointed out a number of times previously, Trump is a huge fan of a weaker currency and very low interest rates:
And so obviously this move is another step closer to a cashless society. The rest of the world is doing it, and the U.S. is objectionably behind the eight ball in this regard, but not for long. Those are the strings attached to Trump’s call to make America the “crypto capital of the world.” This year Australia, for example, is to become “functionally cashless” this year.
Clearly, this is another step closer towards the eventual mark of the beast system (Revelation 13:16-18).
Proverbs 17:8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.
The value of money matters a lot to me and it should to you, too, including a measly penny. People can laugh and scorn all they want, I don’t care, but I try to pay with cash and coins whenever I can; and I never bring my debit card with me to stores, and I don’t have a credit card. I save all my change and convert it later on after my jug gets full, and if I spot loose change on the ground I pick it up. People who are too good to pick up loose change only demonstrate their entitlement, in my view. But those same people have no problem, no pun intended, getting nickeled and dimed on their credit reports and processing fees each time they swipe. But that’s the Western way.
That’s a good measure of true wealth, ladies: men who can keep and retain and be frugal, and not flash their fake wealth and spend like it is going out of style on vanity.
Proverbs 21:17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Couldn't have said it better, my friend.
This is a facet of the prison system being built around us. And by who better than a builder?
Thank you so much for this article. Many don't realize what we're being inched toward.
It's all a cynical plan. Every step.
RIP penny. Hello digital currency and furthering the attempt to enslave us. Don't give in.
God Bless.