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Cnn
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The Elon Musk government ministry has a new goal to reduce costs: American Penny.
Doge said on X That the penny costs more than 3 hundred to make and cost the American taxpayers more than $ 179 million during the year 2023. “Mint produced more than 4.5 billion cents during the 2010 financial year, or about 40% of the 11.4 billion parts for the circulation produced,” read the post in part.
The American currency in 2023 reported it broadcast About 4.1 billion cents. During fiscal 2024, the American currency said in its Annual report That the American penny costs approximately 3.7 cents to produce and distribute, up more than 20% compared to the previous year. The increase in the cost of metals, including zinc and copper, is part of the reason why it becomes more expensive to make the room.
Musk does not present a new idea. For years, People recommended Eliminate the penny, because the subsides are rarely spent as a change. And from the cocovio-19 pandemic, More and more consumers are shopping online or completely avoid physical currency.
More than 20 years ago, in an episode of 2001 of the political drama “The West Wing”, the fictitious character Sam Seaborn enters a diatribe on the penny.
“The majority of subsidians do not circulate. They go to jars, sock drawers ”, Seabor said.
More recently, last year, a story of the New York Times Magazine pleaded for the abolition of the medal. “The need to abolish the penny has been obvious for people in power for so long that the inability to accomplish it transformed the piece into a deeper symbol of rot,” noted the room.
Other experts say that the elimination of soup could benefit companies by saving some time for store clerks and cashiers. Jeff Lenard, vice-president of strategic industry initiatives at the National Association of Convenience Motch, said that around 52 million in person transactions occur in convenience stores every day.
“If we save each of these customers for 2 seconds, it’s 104 million seconds or 1,203 days”, Lenard said at CNN. “And it does not take into account the time to worsen – save 2 seconds for other people who line up before paying. It is a serious productivity. »»
Musk was strongly involved in the new Trump administration. President Donald Trump officially created the Government Ministry of Government in the federal government in An executive action this week. Vivek Ramaswamy, who was initially led to co-Diriger the department with Musk, was expelled, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Michael Williams of CNN and Clare Duffy contributed to this report.