The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 51, December 4, 2005, Article 24

ABOLISH THE CENT?  PRO AND CON VIEWS

Dick Johnson writes: "It is amazing where you find articles
of numismatic interest. Thanks to Google's power to pull
in data from around the world the same day it is published,
I found an article of interest published this week in, of
all places, a college newspaper, The Calvin College
"Chimes" of Grand Rapids Michigan.

Subject: Should America eliminate the penny (read "cent")?

The format was a debate -- point, counterpoint. Whether
the writers were students or faculty is not material. It
was a good debate with salient points on both sides with
evidence of some good library research.

Neither writer, however, mentioned the strongest factor
to force such a decision. That force is the American
economy. It is expanding faster than the gases escaping
from the Crab nebula. Our economy will change -- much
like it has changed in the last 225 years -- and the
value or purchasing power of the dollar (and the cent)
will continue to change as it has in the past.

Thomas Jefferson devised our monetary system and chose
the denominations, even named them. (Americans accepted
all these terms after Noah Webster included them in his
first American dictionary, all except the $100 "Unite").
Jefferson's ideal coins were based on the decimal system
– brilliant idea! – most countries in the world have
copied this decimal concept. (Even England succumbed
two centuries later, converting their pound-shilling-pence
nightmare to 100 pence to the pound.)

Jefferson invented the "cent." He also created the dime
as the tenth of a dollar, and the cent as a tenth of dime;
he also included a tenth of a cent – the "mill."  The mill
was a money of account, no need for a mill coin even in
1792 when the first coins were minted. America coined a
half cent, but this became unnecessary in 1857 when the
cost of copper in the half cent coin rose above its face
value as a result of the expanded economy.

It is inevitable in the future that the cent is destined
to be a money of account like the mill – too small for
an expanding economy. When will this happen? The 2010s?
Or by 2050? Only the American economy will dictate this.

But the ideal plan will be to abolish both the cent and
the nickel at the same time. Our dime will be the smallest
coin when the average worker earns perhaps $50 an hour. (You
read it first here in E-Sylum!)  Paper transactions can be
for less than a dime (as they are now, less than a cent, even
to four and five decimal places). But CASH transactions will
indeed be rounded off to the nearest dime. (It's bunk that
buyers will lose because sellers will always round up – it
will be an insignificant amount for individual sales and it
will all even out in the end!)

Coin collectors should not despair. As we eliminate two coin
denominations, we should add several new coins for our
circulating media. At the time we abolish the cent and nickel,
$5 and $10 coins will become common coins in circulation.
There is an ideal number of coin denominations for any country's
active circulation. That ideal number is between five and seven.
(How do I know? I did my research. I counted the number of
partitions in a cash register!)

Are you penny pro or no penny con? You might find some
evidence – or at least some good debate in this site:
Full Story "

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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