Eliminate the Dime, Too

We at Blawgconomics have been trying for some time to sneak the work of Gregg Easterbrook into a posting. Unfortunately, a discussion of the tactics of football coaches on fourth down doesn't typically lend itself to legal or economics analysis (though Mr. Easterbrook could likely make an economic connection between the safety of punting and the safety of job security, but I digress).

Probably best known for his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on ESPN.com, Easterbrook also contributes to Reuters.com (a link can be found on this page under 'Editor's Picks'). We appreciate his style, which combines a tell-it-how-it-is, common sense approach with humor and the numbers to back it up. Luckily, one snippet from his latest TMQ is both an enjoyable example of his style and a relevant topic for a law and economics blog. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do:

Eliminate the Dime, Too:

The U.S. Treasury is seeking to save $100 million per year by removing nickel from the nickel; nickel lobbyists are fighting this in Congress. The International Zinc Association is lobbying to maintain the existence of the penny, which is mostly zinc. If the United States, at a time of record mega-deficits, can't even get rid of pennies because members of Congress fear the loss of donations from the zinc lobby, how will fiscal sense ever be established?

The quarter is the smallest unit of currency that bears meaning in modern society: pennies, nickels and dimes merely clog the national pocket, at a cost to taxpayers. Pennies mean so little they possess negative value: we should bury them in landfills! Instead, the Mint is subsidized with tax dollars to produce more of a worthless item, in order to avoid offending interest groups. Isn't this modern government waste in a nutshell?

As noted by many readers, including Deirdre O'Connell of Toronto, Canada has eliminated both the penny and the dollar bill. The dollar, the most-exchanged unit of currency, in Canada is a coin, which saves mint money by lasting longer than a paper dollar. When the United States trails Canada in anything, even sensible currency, it's time to act.

Zinc postscript: "Zinc is natural," the zinc lobby reminds, making it sound like something your kids should swallow. Of course zinc, atomic number 30, the first element in group 12, is natural. Arsenic is natural, too. Want some arsenic? TMQ contends that dangerous substances, or suspicious food additives, should be marketed with the slogan: Made with elements from nature's own periodic table.