Pennies are antiquated pointless, vestiges of a previous time, which have somehow managed to survive the test of time. In the United States of America we have money, which we use to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. The smallest unit of American money is the penny, which is worth one-one hundredth of a dollar. The penny is worthless and furthermore costly to the American taxpayers, pennies don’t accomplish their intended goal, which is to buy things, and the arguments for it are ridiculous considering the proven benefits. The penny is a worthless government inefficiency. For instance, in 1972, a penny was worth what a nickel is worth today according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator. And yet in 1972, our economy managed to function just fine without having a coin that was worth one fifth of a penny. But here’s what should bother you as a representative of the government, according to the United States Mint in a statement, it costs 1.7 cents to make a penny. Which means according to the United States Mint in a financial report, every year 70 million dollars of federal money, goes to subsidizing the existence of the penny. Now we could solve that problem by using steel instead of zinc to make pennies, but that wouldn’t address the underlying problem that pennies are worthless. Things that are worthless are worth nothing and for that matter pennies are worth much less than nothing. Several studies have proven that the time Americans spend fiddling with pennies costs us money; as much as a billion dollars a year according to a former Bush economic advisor and Harvard professor Greg Mankiw in statement to USAtoday. So every year American tax payer’s pay 70 million dollars to have the oppor... ... middle of paper ... ..., 11 July 2006. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. . "Eliminating the Penny: Rounding." Eliminating the Penny: Rounding. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . "Inflation Calculator: Bureau of Labor Statistics." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . "What Can You Buy with a Penny?" Citizens to Retire the U.S. Penny. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013. . *US Mint financial report in PDF, unable to cite in MLA, link… http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/pdfs/united_states_mint_report_2012_biennial_report_to_the_congress_on_the_current_status_of_coin_production_costs_and_analysis_of_alternative_content_december_2012.pdf