• Jesus@lemmy.world
    31·
    3 days ago

    No. It’s still circulating, and there was no legislation created to transition the country away from it.

    Trump is just winging shit with executive orders. He can stop making new pennies, but he can’t stop circulating old pennies, and he can’t force retailers to round unless congress passes legislation.

    • Winged_Hussar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      4 days ago

      $70M “vanishes” to print pennies each year as it costs nearly 4¢ to make 1 penny. (Doesn’t actually vanish, some goes to penny maker’s pockets* - see reply below)

      Does the president really have the power to stop penny printing?

      Maybe.

      The president is to execute laws passed by congress. Congress passes vague laws.

      One example is what coins to print. However, how many to print is left out, just that it should be “the necessary amount”

      So Trump decided that the necessary amount was 0.

      However, if Congress disagrees with the interpretation, then it goes to the courts.

      The courts will ask if there is a precedent… which for the penny specifically - there isn’t really.

      Existing precedent is about rarely used speciality / collector coins which previous presidents used the same method to reduce / eliminate production.

      So maybe this will kill the penny, but also maybe not. If it does kill the penny, it could set an interesting precedent for future presidents to kill off anything congress hasn’t been explicit on.

      … I hope all my president / precedents are correct lol.