We love the penny here at the Emerald Island Casino. After all we are Nevada’s Only All Penny Casino! But you already knew that. What you might not know is that some feel that the United States should be getting rid of the penny once and for all. Mercy!
Money comes in different forms – in the early times, and up until now in some places, highly valued things such as cattle and grains may serve as money,
but mostly, monetary transactions all over the world involve coins and paper bills. In the course of time, coin proved to be not only economically valuable but historically as well, since coins also represented the government and the people who ruled in the time of its manufacture.
Now, there are of course issues involved in the manufacture of money in the physical sense, such as what kind of material to use, which leader to put on it, (I wonder how Tim Brooks would look on a coin…hmmmmmm) or even what color it should be. One of the most largely talked about money issues is the existence of the penny, a coin originating from the British, representing a denomination equivalent to a hundredth of a dollar or one cent. People have been talking about getting rid of the penny in the United States.
Pennies were first made in 1792 out of 100% pure copper. This immediately had to change, however, when the value of copper went up and the buying value of the penny went down due to inflation. Eventually, the penny had to be made of 95% zinc and only 5% copper. In 2006, the value of copper in a penny became 0.8 cents higher than the actual 1-cent value of the coin. Now this is where the controversy comes in. Should Americans really be getting rid of the penny in the United States?
Some argue that a penny is a denomination too small that it could no longer buy anything at least today. Others may rebut that by saying that pennies are useful for paying exact amounts since taxes are not included in products’ prices in the US, but even with taxes, people nowadays just usually round up the amount so that they would not need to count pennies. For one, counting 1-cent coins just takes too much time and effort.
Moreover, food and drink vending machines as well as laundry, parking lot, and toll machines do not accept pennies. Most citizens – most but not all – would agree that they no longer deem the penny as valuable as other coins, and other countries that use it like Canada have already gotten rid of it. So it would all boil down to one question: why is the government not comfortable with getting rid of the penny in the United States? A considerable number of people are actually concerned about the high rise of prices since without pennies, all prices would round up to the nearest dollar.
It may be harmless with just a dollar or two but once larger amounts of money are involved, the difference would be obvious. Economists also consider that getting rid of the penny in the United States would cause the zinc industry to go bankrupt. It is a constant push and pull between the two sides, but while the government has not made any decision, it is suggested that people just donate the unwanted pennies to charity. The penny may go away, but the best slots will still be found at the Emerald Island Casino!