first the good news :

[J.T.M.]

The good news :
is that the Mint says we saved $29 million this year making pennys and nickels

.
.
.
.
The bad news :

is that we're still losing $100 million a year on pennies and nickels because it costs 1.66 cents to make a penny and more than 8 cents to make a nickel.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/ec...es-and-nickels

[JJ Grandits]

Yet pennies and nickles are still the most profitable things our government makes.

[BadFordRanger]

Could someone explain to me how we saved 29 million dollars when it cost us $ .66 to make pennies and more than three cents to make a nickle??
I simply fail to understand how they think we saved anything.

Godspeed

Ranger

[BohemianWaxwing]

Ranger,

You live in the state next to DC and you don't know that the government considers it a savings when they take out a smaller loan instead of a larger one?!

[1shotwade]

Originally Posted by BohemianWaxwing

Ranger,

You live in the state next to DC and you don't know that the government considers it a savings when they take out a smaller loan instead of a larger one?!

That's pretty close! Actually they saved 29 Million because it cost them 29 M less than what was budgeted.Real life math and government math are apples and oranges.When you hear they cut the budget it doesn't mean we are spending less than last year. What they are telling you is they are spending less than what was budgeted. Also,what is budgeted is automaticly 10% over what was budgeted the previous year.All the fights you see in congress about X% versus Y% is the % of the increase in the budget,not the % of moneys actually spent.Every year we spend more because the law allows a 10% budget increase automatically to keep the government running. Hence,the 40 cents on each dollar is borrowed money we can not pay back. The 1T printing of a couple weeks ago only paid the part of the debt that had come due(interest only). We never pay on the principle. Try doing that at home and see how it works for you!

Wade


BTW- I guess I should add that this is my understanding of the way things work. I could be wrong but if I am I'm sure someone on here can better explain it! WB

[poppy]

The obvious government answer will be to save even more by making more pennies and nickles. Sort of like the old story about the guy who went into business cutting and hauling pulp wood. After a few months he went over his books and found he was losing $50 per load. His fix to the problem was to buy 2 more trucks and make it up in volume.

[J.T.M.]

Im reminded of this - true Washington speak

[J.T.M.]

1 penny cost 1.5¢ to produce
5 cents cost 6¢ to produce
10 cents cost 6¢ to produce
1 quarter cost 11¢ to produce
1 coin dollar cost 25¢ to produce
————————-
1 dollar bill cost 5¢ to produce
5 dollar bill cost 8¢ to produce
10 dollar bill cost 10¢ to produce
20 dollar bill cost 9¢ to produce
50 dollar bill cost 9¢ to produce
100 dollar bill cost 11¢ to produce
http://smartstat.net/how-much-does-i...to-make-money/

[Txsteader]

That $100 million loss producing pennies and nickels is the least of our worries.

[jwal10]

I was lost with "new math" when my kids were in school, but "common core math"!!!!!!! common core....common core HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....James

[poppy]

Originally Posted by jwal10

I was lost with "new math" when my kids were in school, but "common core math"!!!!!!! common core....common core HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....James

Our grandson is taking common core math. What a joke. It involves drawings and timelines. Takes half a page to solve a problem I can do in my head. But if he doesn't like the answer, it is perfectly okay to round it off. We'd have failed math back in the day for rounding off answers. A rounded off answer isn't an answer, it is an approximate answer. I guess I might like it better when I can deposit $51.00 in my back account and tell the teller to just round it up to $100.