Ojai Valley News Blog

Commentary by Bill Buchanan
Who else but the federal government would spend twice what a penny is worth just to make it in the first place? If that doesn’t make sense, wait a minute, it gets worse. Part of that high cost is due to the fact that we import the metals used for making the penny. Rather than using good old steel, or some other abundant metal from this country, that might actually create a few extra jobs, we import much of the copper and zinc used to make the coins. “We could save taxpayers an estimated $433 million over 10 years in production if we moved to using steel instead of nickel and copper in nickels and pennies,” says U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, who has introduced a bill to switch to steel coins. “Plus, the U.S. could see a $4 billion profit from recovering the nickel, zinc and copper from old coins currently in circulation.” Why haven’t we done this? Or better yet, why don’t we follow Canada’s lead, and just eliminate the penny altogether? We manufacture 7.4 billion pennies a year. At 2.4 cents each, that is over $176 million dollars a year in savings. Why are we still making these things? Oh sure, someone’s ancient Aunt Tilly in Omaha is sure to get on the evening news and wax nostalgic with a sentimental story from her childhood about the noble penny. But let’s face it; we all hate those nasty pennies. What does a penny buy today? How many pennies do you lose or throw out each year? Who actually uses them? One study shows that the average American wastes 2.4 hours a year handling pennies, or waiting for people who handle them. That’s probably why many convenience stores have little trays where people can either pick up a penny or two so you can have exact change without fumbling through your purse or pockets. And I read somewhere that picking up a penny off of a sidewalk doesn’t even pay the finder minimum wage unless you can pick it up in less than five or six seconds. Who is keeping this metallic dinosaur alive? When Canada announced it was killing off its one-cent coin, The Americans for Common Cents (cute name) started sending out press releases claiming that Americans wanted to keep the penny by a two-thirds majority. The ACC claims it is a consortium of 50 groups who praise the penny. Who heads up the ACC? The zinc lobby. Yes, there actually is such an entity. Something tells me they may not be terribly objective in their pursuit of keeping the penny alive. CNN Money reported that the opinion polls quoted by ACC are 12 to 20 years old. It also stated that the company, Jarden Zinc, spent about $140,000 in 2011 for pro-penny lobbying services. As it turns out, Jarden was awarded $48 million in federal contracts. I’m sure that is a mere coincidence. Like so many other things, deep-pocket lobbyists control a disturbingly large segment of our government. The cost to taxpayers for unnecessary and over-subsidized products and services due to well-placed campaign contributions by special interest groups cannot be easily calculated. And if it were, it would probably scare the hell out of all of us. Anyway, that’s my two cents worth.