The United States government minted its final penny in November of 2025. This came after fiat money inflation succeeded in depriving pennies of nearly all their value. Pennies are still circulating, but it is increasingly common for stores to round cost totals to avoid giving pennies in change. Also, people seeing that the metal content of their pennies is worth more than the face value are deciding that it is better to store pennies in a jar than to spend them.
Tag: inflation
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Whatever Happened to the Penny?
Richard J. Maybury’s book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? provides a good introduction to government’s destruction over time of the value of money. The “penny candy” mentioned in the book’s title has moved on to higher and higher prices as the value of the penny has continued to decrease. Now pennies themselves are going away with the last new penny having been minted by the United States government on Wednesday.
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The Happy Penny
On Saturday, I received three pennies in change at a store. Looking at the pennies in my hand, one jumped out for its unique color. I was happy to see it — the happy penny.
In the November of 2024 presidential election, CNN exit polling indicated that Donald Trump won the support of 76 percent of voters who answered that in the past year inflation had caused their families “severe hardship.” Now, less than five months later, voters are viewing the Trump administration as failing to address this issue sufficiently. A March 27-28 CBS poll found that 64 percent of polled individuals believed the Trump administration was “not enough” focused on lowering prices.
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Ayn Rand, Stamps, and Inflation
Ayn Rand was a novelist and philosopher. Less well known is that she was also a stamp collector.
In the Thursday episode of The HighWire, host Del Bigtree has brought us a standout interview with premier libertarian communicator Ron Paul.