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DOGE Highlights Costly U.S. Penny
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DOGE Highlights Costly U.S. Penny

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ProCon Debate: Should the U.S. Penny Stay in Circulation?

ProCon Issue in the News: On January 21, 2025, the newly created U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) posted on X the following information on the costs of producing the U.S. penny:

The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.

The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced.

Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.

The U.S. Mint’s 2024 annual report states that the penny’s unit cost is up 20.2 percent from 2023, now costing 3.69 cents to produce. Nickels are similarly expensive to make, costing 13.78 cents per coin. Both pennies and nickels have cost more to make than their face value (1 cent and 5 cents, respectively) for 19 years. Given the diminished use of the penny in particular, the high cost of producing the coin has raised the question of whether the penny should be eliminated, as Canada did with its 1 cent coin in 2013.

DOGE, created by executive order on January 20, 2025, by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, is a temporary office of the federal government (permanent departments have to be created by Congress) run by Elon Musk. The official goal of the agency is “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

A second executive order tasked DOGE with creating a federal hiring plan by working with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Neither executive order mentions the popularly touted goal of DOGE: to slash government spending. DOGE has an expiration date of July 4, 2026.

Discussion Questions

  1. Should the penny stay in circulation? Consider the ProCon debate over the coin.
  2. Consider the nickel, which costs more to make than the penny. Should we also consider taking the nickel out of circulation? Explain your answer.
  3. Should the U.S. move to an all-digital currency, removing all physical money (coins and paper) from circulation? Why or why not?

Sources

  • Department of Government Efficiency (January 21, 2025), x.com
  • William Gavin, “Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Real Now. Here’s What It Is and How It Actually Works” (January 23, 2025), quartz.com
  • Aimee Picchi, “Elon Musk’s DOGE Has a New Target for Cutting Federal Spending: The U.S. Penny” (January 22, 2025), cbsnews.com
  • United States Mint, “2024 Annual Report” (accessed January 29, 2025), usmint.gov
  • White House, “Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ ” (January 20, 2025), whitehouse.gov
  • White House, “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service” (January 20, 2025), whitehouse.gov