The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 23, June 6, 2004, Article 18

ABOLISH THE CENT, YOU MEAN

  Tom Fort sent us the following article by William Safire titled
  "Abolish the Penny", which was published in the June 2 issue
  of The New York Times.  He writes:  "Here is something for
  The E-Sylum. It has been discussed many times before, but
  as long as there is a congressional delegation from Illinois it
  will never happen."  Arthur Shippee forwarded it to us a well.
  Here's an excerpt:

  "The time has come to abolish the outdated, almost
  worthless, bothersome and wasteful penny. Even President
  Lincoln, who distrusted the notion of paper money because
  he thought he would have to sign each greenback, would be
  ashamed to have his face on this specious specie.

  That's because you can't buy anything with a penny any
  more. Penny candy? Not for sale at the five-and-dime
  (which is now a "dollar store"). Penny-ante poker? Pass
  the buck.  Any vending machine? Put a penny in and it will
  sound an alarm.

  There is no escaping economic history: it takes nearly a
  dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.
  Despite this, the U.S. Mint keeps churning out a billion
  pennies a month.

  Where do they go? Two-thirds of them immediately drop
  out of circulation, into piggy banks or - as The Times's
  John Tierney noted five years ago - behind chair cushions
  or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball.
  Quarters and dimes circulate; pennies disappear because
  they are literally more trouble than they are worth. "

  To read the full article, see: Full Article

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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