[StevePerkins]

Because the savings would be less than peanuts in the grand scheme of things that the government spends money on.

Because the Left would be galvanized by a million blog posts and academic papers (basically the same thing these days), arguing that it's racist because people of color are more likely to be underbanked and use cash. Yes I realize that's nonsense, but it wouldn't matter.

Because the Right would probably be galvanized too, by complaints that the government was meddling too much in the familiar and somehow ripping people off. Yes I realize that's nonsense, but it wouldn't matter.

It's so hard to make anything happen in U.S. politics today... eliminating pennies, nickels, and dimes wouldn't even make my Top-10,000 list of priorities.

[hiddencost]

You have a really angry model of the politics in this country, and seem to lack respect for the political stances.

It's quite easy to pass laws that no one cares about. Congress passed a law modernizing duck hunting permits. Maine was very happy.

[throwawaysugar]

> You have a really angry model of the politics in this country, and seem to lack respect for the political stances.

I'd argue politics in this country is angry and seems to lack respect for opposing political stances. I found the parent's post perfectly adequate

[JumpCrisscross]

> seems to lack respect for opposing political stances

This is true for issues with national currency. Pennies aren't in this category. Instead, it's more subject to the interest-group problem [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38665895

[schmookeeg]

Parent's model is very much my own view of our political gridlock.

[JumpCrisscross]

> by complaints that the government was meddling too much in the familiar and somehow ripping people off

It would be about inflation. Just as only Nixon could go to China, it's probably only Republican initiative that can nix the penny--they could brand it as thriftiness.

Unfortunately, zinc is mined in red states and districts [1]. A President would have to lead the charge.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_mining_in_the_United_Stat...

[noqc]

The "left" that you are referring to opposes eliminating cash. The reasons often given in hearsay and by journalists and blog posts are often exclusively focused on "people of color" who are underbanked, but the complaint is much more concisely stated as BEING OPPOSED TO THE PRIVITIZATION OF CURRENCY. Which seems fucking reasonable as shit to me.

[Guvante]

IIRC abolishing the penny is relatively popular.

The only reason it wasn't already abolished is lobbying by Zinc producers.

[appleskeptic]

What an indictment of our system.

[euroderf]

The way to fix underbanking is to get the USPS to offer low-cost/no-cost accounts.