...it costs more than a penny to manufacture a penny. Specifically, it costs 1.62 cents to produce that 1 cent copper coin. And that's been the case for a while now! ...Why's it cost so much? Apparently, the penny is made from 2.5% copper and 97.5% zinc and those metals have gone up in price as of late. In fact, if you could melt the coin, you'd have materials totaling 1.62 cents—more than the cent that measly penny is worth. That's crazy! What's crazier is that it's been that way since 2006. Aren't useful things supposed to be greater than the sum of its parts? Shouldn't they have changed the metal mixture to something cheaper by now?
Apparently, the director of the Mint tried to make the penny cheaper to manufacture but Congress shut that initiative down. As it currently stands, the Treasury boss can "recommend changes in metal content or in the amount of coins produced" but only Congress can make the final decision.
And that seems to be the problem - it's Congress' call to make.
On a completely unrelated note *cough cough* a huge majority of Americans -- 77% of mainstream voters -- believe that no matter how bad things get in America, Congress can always find a way to make things worse.
Given that 62% of the Political Class disagrees, this also more or less proves the fact that the average American citizen is more intelligent and in-tune than the average elected officeholder. Oh, and the average American also knows the Constitution better than elected officeholders.
And we wonder why things are going downhill...?
PS - you can take the Constitutional quiz for yourself here.
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