President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he has ordered U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt production of the one-cent penny, citing excessive costs.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies,” Trump wrote. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
The penny, first issued in 1793, has featured President Abraham Lincoln since 1909 and is composed of zinc and copper.
The Longstanding Penny Debate
The debate over eliminating the penny has been ongoing for years. In 2013, economist Henry Aaron from the Brookings Institution argued for scrapping both pennies and nickels, calling them “monetary detritus.”
Supporters of the penny claim it helps keep consumer prices lower and benefits charities, while critics argue it is mostly discarded and unnecessary in modern transactions.
What’s Next?
If the penny is phased out, one proposal is to round prices to the nearest zero, simplifying transactions. The decision marks another step in Trump’s cost-cutting agenda.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced support for U.S. president Donald Trump’s proposal to hold a trilateral summit with Russia, sayin...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 16th of August, covering the latest developments you need to k...
The death toll from weeks of torrential rains and flooding in Pakistan has risen above 300, local officials said on Saturday....
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping assured him China would not invade Taiwan during Trump’s presidency, ad...
South Sudan and Israel have held talks on a plan to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza in the African nation, three sources told Reuters, though...
The Trump administration is considering a refugee cap of around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority of spots reportedly allocated to white South Africans, signaling a significant shift in U.S. refugee policy.
When U.S. President Donald Trump phoned Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, last month to discuss trade tariffs, he also inquired about the Nobel Peace Prize, Dagens Naeringsliv reported Thursday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte discussed on Thursday, the Russia-Ukraine war and global issues in a phone call ahead of Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to make a deal, suggesting that the threat of sanctions helped push Moscow toward seeking direct talks.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 56 kilometres east of Gorgan in northern Iran early Sunday morning, according to preliminary seismic data.
The Trump administration is expected to shed roughly 300,000 federal workers in 2025, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor said Thursday.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a €500 million loan (almost $590 million) to the national gas company Naftogaz (NAK) for emergency gas purchases for Ukraine.
Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high as expectations grow for U.S. interest rate cuts and regulatory moves favouring crypto investment, boosting investor confidence in the sector.
The U.S. budget deficit surged nearly 20% in July to $291 billion despite a significant increase in customs duty collections from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as government spending outpaced revenue growth.
The National Carrier of Türkiye, Turkish Airlines has announced an increase in the number of its weekly flights to China.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment