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President Trump has ordered the U.S. Treasury to axe the “wasteful” penny throughout a social media rant whereas watching the Tremendous Bowl in New Orleans.
“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 U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies”, he wrote in an 8:30 p.m. Fact Social submit Sunday.
Trump fired the demand citing the rising prices attributed to the one-cent coin – a longstanding debate that was spotlighted by Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity on X final month. Musk’s crew of DOGE geniuses have reportedly recognized and minimize greater than $1 billion in federal spending because it started pillaging authorities departments.
“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time”, Trump added within the Fact submit.
At current, there are estimated to be round 250 billion pennies in circulation within the U.S. and the symbolic coin was first issued in 1793.
However dismally in 2024, the U.S. Mint introduced that every one-cent penny value 3.69 cents to fabricate – a worth that quantities to over three and a half instances the coin’s face worth.
The Treasury Division additionally said that prices had been pushed up because the earlier yr with the penny’s unit value rising by 20.2 p.c, the nickel by 19.4 p.c, the dime 8.7 p.c, and the quarter-dollar by 26.2 p.c.
Donald Trump made the declaration in a Fact Social rant, mid Tremendous Bowl (Getty Photos)
Nevertheless, this got here in tandem with a reported lack of $85.3 million within the 2024 fiscal yr and a revelation that “the unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.”
Like lots of Trump’s elaborate requires reform, it’s unclear whether or not he’ll be capable of comply with by means of together with his calls for with out going through tough obstacles from Congress as they management specs similar to the scale and steel content material of cash.
Lawmakers could also be compelled to go laws on money transactions unable to be divided by the subsequent lowest denomination – the five-cent coin, in line with Fortune. Up to now, the legislature has mentioned the premise of rounding costs up or right down to the closest 5 cents.
Trump’s involvement of Musk in ransacking federal departments whereas they hint monetary holes within the system has attracted waves of widespread criticism in latest weeks. Primarily, attributable to its muddied roster of employees, who’ve made a number of daring makes an attempt to assert authority and directed expeditious cuts throughout the board – and DOGE doesn’t look like halting its efforts anytime quickly.
