901_Group_P4

Position Paper – Part Four: Name: Maria Barajas (Democrat)

Instructions: Please use this form as an organizer for writing your portion of your group position paper. You will be writing the conclusion to the paper. You should clearly and thoroughly summarize your group’s problem and your solution. Be persuasive and convincing in your conclusion why you believe that you have identified the best solution to your problem. Be sure to follow the MLA citation format that you used when completing your JRP. You will also complete the Annotated Bibliography – gather all sources from your issue group members and compile into one annotated bibliography VII. Conclusion: Be sure to restate the problem and why you think your solution is the best possible course of action.

These coins are seen when walking downtown to catch a movie with a date, during the Saturday afternoon cleaning of the home stuck in between the couch, on the bottom of the sock drawer or inside mom’s base in the living room. Why worry about the penny that can’t buy anything these days in our society. Pennies are seen everywhere and left around unwanted waiting for someone who will actually use them to take them. The problem in society today is that pennies have lost their value. According to William Safire, two-thirds of the pennies produced annually drop out of circulation immediately. They are worthless and useless to many of this nation’s consumers. They are only wanted by few. The Wise Benjamin Franklin first suggested a penny in 1787. Paul Revere, a blacksmith then suggested using copper for the one cent coins (De Nies). The penny is made from zinc, a mineral that mostly comes from Canada and Alaska (Safire). There have been prepositions to construct these coins with another metal that is found in the United States. Arizona has many copper mines and this has been one of the potent alternatives for the production of the penny (Hatfield). Yet another strong motive to eliminate the penny is the amount it takes to produce one. It takes nearly a dime to produce a penny. It costs the U.S. Mint 1.26 cents to produce a coin that is worth one cent (Headley). The reality is that not much can be bought with pennies. Nowadays it takes nearly a dime to buy what a penny could buy back in 1950 (Headley). According to US News there are 10,000,000 pennies punched out daily and 7.4 billion a year. This means that U.S. citizens or taxpayers are loosing twenty-six cents a year therefore taxed unnecessary amounts. A strong argument for keeping the penny is that consumers will be paying more for their products. However this is not always the case. If something is priced as $39.99 the price is thought of to rise to $40. However these types of prices imposed by retailers are meant to cost $40 not less. If the penny was abolished the price would go to $39.95 because retailers would lose money. Abolishing the penny would be disinflationary (Blinder). Both of my interviewees said that the opposed this issue because the prices would skyrocket. However this would not happen if more than one item were purchased. At most it would be three or four cents lost (Prenzo). To finish, many Americans disagree with the abolishment of the penny because the face of President Abraham Lincoln is on the one cent coin. However Lincoln’s face is already honored on the five dollar bill. President Lincoln is honored in other monuments in the nation. In 1958 the half coin was eliminated and the nation adapted to loss of the coin. There is evidence that shows that other countries have gotten rid of their small coins and there has been no problem adjusting to the change. In 2006, New Zealand eliminated their nickel. At the same time they took advantage and significantly shrunk down the rest of the coins. All of this numismatic change took place without any major problems for the country (Headley).

The penny should be abolished. It is more expensive to make a penny than what it is actually worth. It costs taxpayers more money. The metals that are used to make the penny are expensive. They should be changed for other metals that don’t cost as much. All in all, the penny is a hassle to many citizens. Only people who fundraise worry about them the others leave them on the ground or inside their couches. A proposal is to abolish the penny from the American currency and use the nickel as the smallest coin. If some retail stores start using this procedure soon other businesses will follow and the abolishment of the penny will not be noticed at all.

VIII. Annotated Bibliography: Collect all the sources from your fellow issue group members and compile one ANNOTATED Bibliography.

 **Works Cited** Barry, Ms. Personal interview. 23 Feb. 2011. No you cant get rid of the penny! Blinder, Alan S. // Abolishing the Penny Makes Good Sense //. // Teacher Web //. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. <[]‌FL/‌LakeNonaHigh/‌Camp/‌Abolishing-the-Penny-Makes-Good-Sense.pdf>. The PDA was written by a teacher who expresses both sides of the view. However he is for abolishing the penny and defends that side more. He gives evidence and personal anecdotes. De Nies, Julie. “Penny Problem: Not Worth Metal It’s Made of.” // Abcnews.com //. ABC News, 16 Mar. 2008. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <[]‌Business/‌story?id=4460935>. This article talks about the production metals used to print a penny, zinc and metal. It comments on the history of the penny, having been the first American coin to have the face of a president on it. Finally it proves to be reliable because it acknowledges the sources that were used in the article. Hatfield, Larry D. “Doing Without Pennies.” // San Francisco Chronicle // [San Francisco] June-July 2001: n. pag. // Pro Quest //. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <[|http://www.search.proquest.com]>. This article talks about a Bill that was proposed by an Arizona Representative that doesn’t not talk about abolishing but using it as a way to create jobs and benefiting the consumer. Headley, Susan. “The Penny Debate- Should We Keep the Penny of Get Rid of It?” // About.com //. About.com- Part of New York Times, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. <[]‌od/‌uscoins/‌i/‌penny_debate.htm>. Headley writes an interesting article that focuses on the pros and cons of the issue. It gives logical and supportive reasoning for abolishing the penny and for not abolishing the penny. It also talks about other countries that have eliminated their pennies and states that they did not suffer a large loss with the elimination. Finally Susan talks about the time in American history when the half cent coin was eliminated in 1858 and how the country reacted to this elimination. Jacobs, Ms. Personal interview. 23 Feb. 2011. I agree with that if you support enough information to prove to people that the penny is worthless Mathews, Barbi. Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2011. No, I disagree with the abolition of the penny. “Obama Could Abolish the Penny with an Executive Order.” // US News //. U.S.News & World Report LP, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <[]‌opinion/‌blogs/‌barone/‌2009/‌01/‌30/‌obama-could-abolish-the-penny-with-an-executive-order>. Barone comments on an economic blog by Thomas Jefferson, “The Street Blog”. He explains the reasoning of Jefferson’s arguments. With an executive order President Obama could abolish the penny. Barone also explains a proposal that retailers could practice to adjust to a possible change with the abolition of the penny. Penzo, Len, and Len Penzo. “Is It Finally Time to Get Rid of the Penny?” // Len Penzo Dot Com //. Len Penzo, Apr.-May 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. <[]‌blog/‌id575-is-it-finally-time-to-get-rid-of-the-penny.html>. Len Penzo is an economic blogger. He provides evidence to prove his point, to abolish the penny. He argues that it is worthless because nowadays it is impossible to find anything worth a penny. Also he talks about the costs of production for the tiny coins. Perez, Luis. Personal interview. 23 Feb. 2011. The metals that make up the penny should be changed. Ramos, Sandra. Personal interview. 23 Feb. 2011. I disagree on eliminating the penny. Safire, William. “Abolish the Penny.” // New York Times // [New York, N.Y.] 2 June 2004, A.19 sec.: n. pag. // ProQuest //. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. <[|http://www.searchproquest.con]>. Safire talks about the history of the penny. It also talks about the making of the penny and why it is beneficial to abolish it. Finally it gives scenarios of the usage and abolition of the penny. - - -. “Enough of This Chump Change: Abolish the Penny.” // ProQuest //. N.p., 6 Sept. 2004. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. <[]‌207620435>. This is a short article published by Safire. HE explains the reality of abolishing the penny focusing on the taxes on products. Consumers will benefit from the penny abolition. Ventimilla, Mrs. Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2011. No, I disagree. A penny is useful I use it to teach my children how to save their money.