It costs 2 cents for the United States Mint to manufacture a Lincoln cent. In 2021, the government struck 7.1 billion of them. Two-thirds never circulate. They clutter up banks. Yet we keep minting them.
Whenever the nation’s “greatness” is bandied about, by those who imagine greatness is a quality that can be self-assigned, a little voice says, “Yeah, we can’t even get rid of the penny.”
