Inflation + The Need to Save Face = Priceless

The spectre of US coinage being worth more as scrap rather than currency has raised it's head agin, this time on a website dedicated to "Exposing [the US] Government's Wonders and Blunders".

"According to U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White, in the 2008 fiscal year, it cost 1.38 cents to manufacture a penny, which of course is only worth one cent. To make a five-cent nickel, it cost 8.83 cents.

The extra change doesn't go to the machinery and isn't solely attributable to the diminishing value of the dollar. Instead, it covers the cost of the materials in coins themselves."

Colour me crazy - but that doesn't seem to be sustainable! Congressman Zack Space did attempt to introduce some common cents into this debate last year by proposing a government bill that would permit the composition of circulating US coinage to be amended in line with rising metal values, however that was defeated. Of course!