Rich Lowry is a man after my own heart.

[Update at 11:30 Pacific]

Here's a more recent post from me on the subject.

How many times are people going to report this tripe and call it "news"? It has been reported for 2, 3, or even 4 months that, due to the price of copper, it cost more than $0.01 to make a $0.01 coin. Back when it was first reported, it actually cost 1.4 cents to make a penny. That figure is down to 1.23? Sounds like we're moving in the right direction to me.

And, that cost is a function of both the price of the metal AND the cost of stamping. It is NOT the price of the base metals.

The fact of the matter is, it still costs significantly LESS than 5 cents to make a nickel, less than 10 cents to make a dime, less than 25 cents to make a quarter, etc. The government makes enough of a profit on all other coins to more than cover the "loss" they take on a penny.

I have yet to see an argument other than "it costs more than a penny to make a penny" as a GOOD reason to get rid of them. All of the other "if you can't buy something with it, it has no value" arguments are strawmen.

I don't have a problem getting rid of the penny in cash transations. But it is ludicrous to think that we should use a rounding system for ALL transactions including credit and debit transactions, considering I'm still charged fractions of pennies in interest on my loans. It isn't a cry for 'nostalgia', it's a cry for common sense.

Also not sure why you linked to a post from over 2 years ago when there is a much more recent set of comments and arguments about it from a few months ago, when the "pennies cost more than a penny" story first broke.

...not sure why you linked to a post from over 2 years ago when there is a much more recent set of comments and arguments about it from a few months ago...

Because for some reason I couldn't find that post in Google (and, yes, I know, I should implement a site search engine). The one I linked was the only one I could find. If you have a link, I'll update the post.

Ditch the one euro-cent too!

How about getting rid of the "9/10's of a penny" cost tacked onto the price of a gallon of gas?

Because for some reason I couldn't find that post in Google

Lucky for me, I posted in the comments on that one, so I just googled me. Below is what I think is the more recent post:

http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/006958.html

I have to agree with Cecil.

Well, to paraphrase the abortion lobby's slogan, I offer the following advice to Rich "Roseannadanna" Lowry:

Against pennies? Don't accept them.

That is, if you don't want to deal with the damn things, just refuse to take that part of your change that comes in pennies. Voìla! No more pennies in jars to lug to the store. And all it costs you is (on average) 2.5 cents per transaction. No need to assemble Congress to pass a law, during the debate on which assorted Senators can bloviate on Mucking With Fine Traditions of The Republic while, in another Fine Tradition, silently attaching $66 billion of earmarks for the folks back home. Folks writing for NRO should know that wise citizens generally regard Congress like they would a loaded gun with a hairline crack in the barrel. Fire it only if you really, really must.

Furthermore, those of us who enjoy the ugly darlin's can keep using 'em and chortle avariciously to ourselves as, Scrooge McDuck-like, we count up the $0.01 and $0.02 we're saving on each of our five remaining monthly cash transactions -- I mean, who the heck uses cash money on a daily basis anymore anyway?

John, as I understand it, we're arguing about eliminating pennies from cash transactions. Isn't that the only place pennies are used?