Is It Time To Kill The Penny?
Planet Money July 14, 20206:30 AM ET By Greg Rosalsky
Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money's newsletter. You can sign up here.
Banks and laundromats are scrambling. Arcades and gumball machine operators are bracing for the worst. Grocery stores are rounding their prices to even dollars or rejecting cash altogether. The specter of the coin shortage lurks everywhere.
Blame COVID-19. The U.S. Mint cut back on coin production this spring to keep its workers safe. Meanwhile, the economy is constipated. "With the closure of the economy, the flow of coins through the economy has ... kind of stopped," explained Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last month. Coins sit idle in closed stores' cash registers and people's homes, and they're not making it to the banks and companies that need them for business.
The coin shortage could be a rallying cry for a long-running movement that has lost steam in recent years: Kill the penny! Last year, almost 60% of the coins that the U.S. Mint churned out were pennies. 60 percent. It made more than 7 billion pennies. Seven billion. That's a lot of manpower that could be used toward making coins we actually need.
The penny is basically worthless. Actually, it's worse than worthless. It costs the U.S. government about 2 cents to produce every penny. Pennies aren't even worth our time. Wake Forest University economist Robert Whaples has calculated that the typical American worker earns a penny every two seconds. It takes most of us more than two seconds to fumble around with change or pick a penny off the ground, which explains why there are so many pennies on the ground. Money is supposed to be the medium of exchange, not dead weight.
The congressman who tried to kill the penny
Jim Kolbe spent two decades trying to kill the penny. He's a former Republican congressman from Arizona, and he began his fight in the late 1980s. Initially, it was not a noble-minded quest to free us of the penny. He says, frankly, that he first wanted to help the copper industry in Arizona by getting rid of the paper dollar and replacing it with a copper-coin dollar. He saw polling that showed there was widespread support for killing the penny, so he and his colleagues bundled the idea of a new copper-coin dollar with the idea of killing the penny. (The penny is made mostly of zinc, not copper.)
But over time, Kolbe says, his proposal to kill the penny became more than just a way to help the copper industry. "It was a logical reform that would have saved the U.S. government a lot of money," he says.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2020/07/14/890435359/is-it-time-to-kill-the-penny
Iraq Sells 10M Oil Barrels At Discounted Prices
2026-10-25 08:26 Shafaq News- Washington/ Baghdad Iraq recently sold 10 million barrels of oil at discounts of $25 to $28 per barrel through its southern ports, Iraqi sources told the Washington-based energy platform Al-Taqa on Sunday. Indian companies purchased most of the shipments, which were loaded several days earlier, sources said.
Good Afternoon Dinar Recaps,
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TNT:
Tishwash: Currency reform before removing zeros: An economist tells Iraq Observer that the roadmap is to strengthen the value of the Iraqi dinar.
As discussions resurface regarding the future of the Iraqi currency and the possibility of removing zeros or replacing the dinar, the importance of prioritizing economic and monetary policies as a foundation for any future reform measures is paramount.
There are strong assertions that strengthening the currency's value and restoring confidence in it necessitates comprehensive financial and economic reforms that precede any decisions concerning the currency's form or the number of zeros.
KTFA:
Clare: "State administration" has not resolved the dispute... Kurdistan's share of the 2027 budget is the biggest obstacle
10/25/2026
On Sunday, Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, a member of the parliamentary finance committee, confirmed that no general agreement had been reached on the draft federal budget law for 2027, despite it being presented during the State Administration Coalition meeting yesterday.
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Reset Intelligence: 90 Days Without the Grid.
By Reset Intelligence | @EXIT_FIAT
On Friday the White House announced a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in Oleshky, brokered through First Lady Melania Trump, and negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States agreed to technical talks in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November.
Over the weekend, documents showed the Pentagon wants every major base in the continental United States able to run for at least 90 days without outside electricity, water, fuel or communications.
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Good Morning Dinar Recaps,
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Even U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently admitted, "The house doesn't win every hand." Meanwhile, Wall Street is sitting on a $1.5 trillion margin lending timebomb, and everyday investors are waking up to a startling reality: the 60-year "boom" in real estate is a fiat currency illusion.
he Financial Industry's Hidden Incentives: What Your Advisor Isn't Telling You | Ben Oberg
Miles Franklon Media: 10-25 -2026
Andy Schectman, Founder & CEO of Miles Franklin, speaks with Ben Oberg, Founder of The Capitalist Network, about why traditional investment strategies may be failing to build real wealth as inflation, taxes and fees erode returns.
Oberg argues that even a 10% investment return could leave investors with little to show for it, while financial advisors may be incentivized to recommend products that benefit them more than their clients.
Good Afternoon Dinar Recaps,
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Removing Zeros From The Iraqi Dinar: A Government Move Reopens The Issue.
October 23, 2026Last updated: October 23, 2026
The Independent - The issue of removing zeros from the Iraqi currency has returned to the forefront of economic discussions, following statements by a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Riyadh Al-Tamimi, in which he revealed a government trend to remove zeros from the Iraqi dinar or change the currency, in a move that reopens one of the most prominent monetary issues that has remained on the table for years without moving to the stage of comprehensive implementation.
Rob Cunningham: The Most Trustworthy World Settlement Token ever Designed
10-24-2026
XRP: The Most Trustworthy World Settlement Token Ever Designed
Global cooperation. Individual ownership. Verifiable trust.
I nominate XRP for the role of World Settlement Token on the strength of this powerful proposition: a shared financial infrastructure that serves people, businesses, institutions and nations while respecting their independence.
Note: All intel should be considered as "Rumors" until we receive official announcements ...and “Rates and Dates” could change anytime until we get to the banks/redemption centers.
RV Excerpts from the Restored Republic via a GCR Update as of Sun. 25 Oct. 2026
Compiled Sun. 25 Oct. 2026 12:01 am EST by Judy Byington
Global Currency Reset: (Rumors)
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TNT:
Tishwash: The Iraqi delegation arrives in Doha to participate in the World Investment Forum 2026
The Iraqi delegation arrived in Doha on Saturday to participate in the World Investment Forum 2026.
The media office of the Minister of Industry and Minerals stated in a statement:
“The Iraqi delegation, headed by the Minister of Industry and Minerals, Mohammed Nouri, arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, to participate in the ninth session of the World Investment Forum 2026, which is being held in cooperation between the State of Qatar and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), under the theme “Investing in the Future.”
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Stern Drew: 10-26-2026
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