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Article: A matter of common cents?
- Article from:
- St. Joseph News-Press
- Article date:
- August 16, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 St. Joseph News-Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. penny is not what it appears to be, and some
in Congress would like to see it change further, if not disappear
entirely.
Because of a surge in the price of copper, the U.S. Mint decided
25 years ago to manufacture the coins almost entirely with zinc, save
for the coating on which Abraham Lincoln's profile is engraved.
Now, the fate of the penny is up in the air once again. With the
price of zinc soaring amid a worldwide commodities boom, it costs the
government almost 2 cents to make each 1-cent coin - a pretty penny
considering roughly 8 billion new ones are placed into circulation
annually.
While it is unlikely the penny will be pulled from circulation,
there are ...