Congress considers the steel penny

[phantom power]

I still support the proposal to quit making pennies altogether.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 7 1/2 cents.

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II, and maybe using steel for nickels, as well.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/07/news/economy/steel_pennies.ap/index.htm

[the other one]

1. The people who sell us the zinc and nickel will never allow it.

It may cost the tax-payer, but someone is making money.

[YankeyMCC]

2. Let's just stop making money already

let's get that Star Trek style economy going!

[global1]

3. Oh Sorry - I Read This Wrong I Thought You Meant Congress Considers Stealing Our Pennies......nt

[Kindigger]

4. Ration tokens

I have some of those WWII? tokens somewhere in my junk. Do you think I should find them just incase?:shrug:

[Fireweed247]

5. I think there are already enough pennies in the world

Why don't they just have a penny drive, encourage everyone to start using their loose chance and emptying the penny banks. Everyone is going to start doing it soon anyhow, just to afford gas.

[Speck Tater]

6. It would be better to just do away with the penny entirely. NT

[pscot]

7. Eliminate the penny

n/t

[GliderGuider]

8. Nah, devalue the currency 5:1

A penny is now worth a nickel, nickels become quarters, dimes become half dollars, the quarter is the new dollar - problem solved.

[pscot]

16. Semiotics to the rescue

Thus we solve all our problems by defining them out of existence. You may qualify for a high-paying job in the Bush administration.

[GliderGuider]

18. You could use a semiotic epistemology to plug your nickels...

I'm trying too hard, aren't I?

[gObama08]

9. Agreed.

Drop it. Worthless.

[Muttocracy]

10. Maybe Paul Ehlrich was right after all?

What would the graph on this page look like extended to 2008?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon-Ehrlich_wager

edit - here's some data but I'm not sure what the inflation adjustment would be

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/copper/mcs-2008-coppe.pdf

[IDemo]

11. Wouldn't the gold dollar be a better idea?

[phantom power]

12. You couldn't see it without a magnifying glass.

[IDemo]

13. Maybe a 125 millibarrel coin?

[phantom power]

14. I like it. We could call it the "petro-dollar!"

[IDemo]

15. My mistake --- 8 millibarrels (at ~$125/barrel) = $1.00

Brother, can you spare a microBarrel?

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Plastic coins -- maybe not that far off? nt

[Javaman]

17. There were steel nickels during WWII as well...

they were called war nickels I have a few of them at home.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Actually, silver and manganese replaced nickel.

From mid-1942 to 1945, so-called "Wartime" composition nickels were created. These coins are 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese. The only other U.S. coins to use manganese are the Sacagawea and presidential dollars. These coins are usually a bit darker than regular nickels, said to be due to their manganese content (as was true of many British coins minted from 1920 through 1947). However, carefully-protected proof sets of these coins are difficult to tell from the standard alloy. A more likely reason for the darker appearance of the wartime coin was due to exposure to sulfur during circulation, which invariably gave the coins a mild and somewhat distinctive dark silver tarnish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_(United_States_coin)

I found a couple of these in my change this year. I still see a few of these every now and then.