Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Metal Content of US Coins Gets Expensive

Robert Wenzel of Economic Policy Journal reviews WSJ article on mintage . . .

Price Inflation Will Force the US Mint to Once Again Change the Metal Content of Coins

Price inflation indexes may not indicate much 
inflation, but the US Mint knows that the indexes 
don't reflect the true picture .

The  Mint is considering a change to the mix of
metals it uses to make quarters, dimes and 
nickels, because of the climbing cost of 
production of the coins. reports WSJ.

It now costs 1.8 cents to make a penny and 
9.4 cents to make a nickel, costing the 
federal government about $104.5 million 
last year.

If the materials are altered for the first time 
in half a century or more, some coins could 
have new colors and weigh less, says WSJ.
It plans to keep the diameter and thickness 
of any potential new coins the same as 
existing specie.

Richard Peterson, the top official at the Mint,
said completely stopping production of the 
penny is a "discussion topic."

"[D]imes and quarters, they are really the 
workhorses of the coin lineup right now," 
Peterson said.

I fully expect that in the next bout of 
accelerating price inflation that the value 
of the metal content of current nickels will 
soar. Thus, nickels are a great no downside 
investment. If the price inflation I anticipate 
doesn't develop, just spend the nickels. For 
more on nickels as an investment see:
Why You Need to Own Nickels, Right Now

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