Goodbye Mr. Lincoln

USA Today makes the case that the U.S. no longer needs the penny:

Here's a startling fact: Because of the soaring price of zinc, it now costs nearly a penny-and-a-half to produce a penny. If the U.S. Mint were a for-profit business, the next step would be pretty automatic — it would shut down penny production or quickly reduce the penny's cost by changing its content. The Mint, however, has the luxury of considering what is best for the country as a whole in making such a momentous decision.

What is in the interest of the nation? It should discontinue minting the dear old penny.

In fact, economists of all political stripes have concluded it's time to get rid of the penny even if the Mint could make it at zero cost. On the left, Princeton's Paul Krugman puts it this way in the introductory textbook he co-authored, Economics: With average wages now at $17 per hour, a penny is "equivalent to just over two seconds of work — and so it's not worth the opportunity cost of the time it takes to worry about a penny more or less." The rising value of our time "has turned a penny from a useful coin into a nuisance."

Harvard's Greg Mankiw, former chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, has said: "When people start leaving a monetary unit at the cash register for the next customer, the unit is too small to be useful."

I'm all for dumping the penny. I won't even bend over to pick one up when I see one on the ground (though the Mrs. is still hoping for the "lucky" one and chides me for not picking them up). I think rounding prices to the nearest $.05 would work just fine, and will be more efficient for everybody.