United States Mint Director Ed Moy will testify before the House Financial Services Subcommittee tomorrow, March 11. A CoinNews article Friday discussed House bill H.R. 5512. It is that bill for which Mr. Moy will testify.
H.R. 5512, named the ‘Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008‘, seeks to change the composition of metals in coins in order to maintain or bring back their profitability – the penny and nickel, for example, cost more to produce than what they are worth. The penny costs approximately 1.7 cents to make and the nickel about 10 cents.
In regards to the hearing, U.S. Representative Luis V. Gutierres commented:
"This hearing provides the subcommittee an opportunity to closely examine measures that could save taxpayers well over $100 million annually by restoring a proportionate economic relationship between each coin’s metal worth and its face value. "
Mr. Moy is scheduled to testify at 2:30 p.m. ET at 2128 Rayburn House Office Building.
Maybe should abolish penny as make them out plastic and make nickel (5 cent piece) out of aluminum. Other suggestion is to make dime, quarter, and half dollar out of nickel plated steel.
It is obvious that the US mint can no longer support the rising cost of production materials without added value. The more likely solution for this problem would be to eliminate the penny and the nickel. I believe it to be in the best interest of all to do so as we have eliminated factional coinage in the past without any repercussions. It will also reduce the amount of pocket change and make our purchases simpler. For those within the Numismatic world it will be just another day in history while they profit from the increasing value of the newly… Read more »