901_Group_P1

Position Paper – Part One
Name:

Instructions: Please use this form as an organizer for writing your portion of your group position paper. You will be writing the opening paragraphs of the paper. You should clearly and thoroughly identify the problem that you are addressing. You may use your own research and the research from other members of your group. Be sure to follow the MLA citation format that you used when completing your JRP. Your portion of the paper should be a minimum of one page in length.

I. There is a problem in society today. That problem is people are abusing the penny and its value. In this world today you will find more and more people throwing pennies away, distroying them, and loosing them. Not only do people not care about the penny but also the value or worth of the penny is not what it used to be. (Safire). Today, the value of the penny is nearly cut in half because it cost twice as much as its worth to create the penny. (Safire). With the econonomy the way it is today, there is over 10,000,000 new pennies printed everyday, (Safire) and with the money being spent on the those pennies, it could instead be used on new devolopments that this world needs today. If you think about it, your given one penny, than asked the question " what can you buy with this penny." And see what people respond to that. The bill HB901 is stating that we the people shoud pass a bill allowing the government to abolish the penny because yes, it is an American trademark, but this American trademark has been being abussed everyday. The materals used in creating the penny consist of zinc and metals. Those materials are pricey and because that the value is less than what it cost to make, its unnessesary to be using those for the penny use, when there could be better things being produced from zinc, metal. (De Nies) The respect that the penny should deserve is what we are talking about today. Abolishing the penny will not only benefit the traditional impact that the penny has on the United States of America but also by terminating the penny, people wont be abusing them either and for the remaining pennies, well some people can collect them, people can put them in hall of fames, because it reality the penny was once very important, but the society we live in today doesnt need much of the penny. ALso with the money being spent on creating the the penny, it could be used for better things and the penny will get the respect it derserves as a old, traditional,retired, American coin.

II. Facts that demonstrate that there is a problem are: (You may use your own sources and the sources of the members in your group)
10,000,000 pennies are being produced daily. the value of the penny is less than what it costs to create zinc and metal is being used is coming short in stock. paytoll uses no penny tolerance and it works fine. 50,000,000 $ is lost every year from the penny. Double set of nickels to eliminate the problems the penny would create if abolished/

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 does 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.

“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. “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 Prenzo 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.

Safire, William. “Abolish the Penny.” New York Times [New WOrk, 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.