Should We Abolish the Penny free essay sample

Instead of going to a store and seeing an item for $9. 99, it is automatically $10. 00. If taxes make an item that is $1 to $1. 06, how can you get the correct change back if the penny is eliminated? This is simply something to consider. A business would have to arrange all of their prices according to tax and elimination of the penny. If the penny is eliminated, our government had better have a good layout for businesses and banks that does not require us to spend more. Additionally, the manner in which thrifty people save their money would transform dramatically. As source B points out, people who have thousands of pennies saved up from over the years of rescuing them from the streets and from the deep, dark crevices of sofa cushions will not have the opportunity to convert these pennies into thousands of dollars. I can say this from experience because my grandma has saved every penny she has seen in a big jar since I was little and plans to give it to me for my college fund. We will write a custom essay sample on Should We Abolish the Penny? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If we abolish, as Safire calls, the â€Å"worthless, bothersome, and wasteful penny,† then my poor grandma’s sixteen year’s collection of pennies will have gone to waste. Also, the people who really need to be thrifty, the poor, will be affected the most, because they are most likely to make more frequent, smaller purchases, thus suffering the rounding up more often. Another problem that falls in this category is that of thousands of small charities that depend on penny drives to bring in donations. People think nothing of pouring out their old penny jars to support these drives, but they wont part with nickels so easily. Furthermore, the penny has intrinsic national value. Viewing Source G, one can easy observe how the penny has circulated through our society since our beloved country’s earliest days. It is an emblem of our thrift, a portrayal of one of our greatest presidents, and a hallmark of our nation’s storied past. The great symbols of our nation—The Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, The White House, Mt. Rushmore—are carefully guarded and watched over. Great emphasis is placed on their preservation, for we acknowledge the value in honoring America’s relics. Should the penny be treated any differently? Ubiquitous and ordinary as it may seem, the penny is just as intrinsically valuable as all other emblems of national pride. Indeed, as documented in Source F, the federal government has already done well to secure the survival of the penny’s symbolic worth by renewing the images of Lincoln. So crucial is the penny as a mark of our national attribute of economy and a portrait of our heritage that to ban it would be to ban a feature of American life. Consequently, the penny is too valuable economically and historically to be abolished. State economics depend on it. Our past is preserved by it. And our traditions are honored by it. The penny should be preserved and honored in our economy and society.