Whoever Does Not Respect the Penny is Not Worthy of the Dollar

Guest Post by Nick Giambruno

This definitive sign of a currency collapse is easy to see…

It’s when paper money becomes trash.

Maybe you’ve seen images depicting hyperinflation in Germany after World War I. The German government had printed so much money that it became worthless confetti. Technically, German merchants still accepted the currency, but it was impractical. For example, it would have required wheelbarrows full of paper money to buy a loaf of bread.

At the time, no one would bother to pick up money off the ground. It wasn’t worth any more than the other crumpled pieces of paper on the street.

Today, there’s a similar situation in the US. When was the last time you saw someone pick up a penny off the street? A nickel? A dime?

Nowadays, even bums often can’t be bothered to pick up anything less than a quarter.

The US dollar has become so debased that these coins are essentially pieces of rubbish. They have little to no practical value.

Refusing To Acknowledge the Truth

Up until 1982, the penny was 95% copper.

Today, the melt value of these pre-1982 pennies is 2.1 cents—more than double their face value—as commodity prices have soared and the dollar’s purchasing power has plummeted.

That’s why the US Mint no longer uses so much copper to make pennies. Modern pennies are only 2.5% copper, with cheaper zinc making up the remaining 97.5% of the coin.

Further, even after using a cheaper metal to make the penny, it still costs the US Mint about 2.1 cents to make every penny. For nickels, it costs the US Mint 8.5 cents to make.

Last year, the US government lost over $144 million making pennies and nickels.

So, why is it wasting taxpayer money making coins bums don’t even use?

Because phasing out the penny and nickel would mean acknowledging currency debasement—governments never like to do that. It would reveal their incompetence and theft from savers.

This isn’t new or unique to the US. For decades, governments worldwide have been reluctant to phase out worthless currency denominations. This helps them deny an inflation problem even exists. They refuse to issue currency in higher denominations for the same reason.

Consider this.

The $100 bill is the largest in circulation. That wasn’t always the case. At one point, the US had $500, $1,000, $5,000, and even $10,000 bills.

The government eliminated these large bills in 1969 under the pretext of fighting the War on (Some) Drugs.

The $100 bill has been the largest ever since. But it has far less purchasing power than it did in 1969. Decades of rampant money printing have debased the dollar. Today, a $100 note buys less than $13 in 1969.

Even though the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar by over 87% since 1969, it still refuses to issue notes larger than $100.

Pennies and Nickels Under Hard Money

Consider what a penny and a nickel would be worth under a hard money system backed by gold. From 1792 to 1934, gold was around $20 per ounce. Under this system, it took about 2,000 pennies to make an ounce of gold.

At today’s gold price, a “hard money penny” would be worth about 85 modern pennies. A “hard money nickel” would be worth about $4.25.

I don’t pick up pennies off the sidewalk. But I would if pennies represented 1/2,000 an ounce of gold. If that were to happen, I doubt there would be many pennies on sidewalks.

Ron Paul said it best when he discussed this issue…

“There is an old German saying that goes, ‘Whoever does not respect the penny is not worthy of the dollar.’ It expresses the sense that those who neglect or ignore the small things cannot be trusted with larger things, and fittingly describes the problems facing both the dollar and our nation today.

Unless Congress puts an end to the Fed’s loose monetary policy and returns to a sound and stable dollar, the issue of US coin composition will be revisited every few years until inflation finally forces coins out of circulation altogether and we are left with only worthless paper.”

There’s an important lesson here.

Politicians and bureaucrats are the biggest threats to your financial security. For years, they’ve been debasing the currency… and inviting a catastrophe that now could be imminent.

-----------------------------------------------------
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal

-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise

42
Leave a Reply

avatar
  Subscribe  
Notify of
TN Patriot
TN Patriot

I pick up coins whenever I see them. My BIL was a teacher and said he would pick up nearly $1 every day in the hallways. Like the article said, the kids would not pick up anything less than a quarter.

When I was a youngster, the local Safeway brought in a travelling exhibit with a $10,000 bill. That was a decent annual salary in those days.

YourAverageJoe
YourAverageJoe

Gold is easier to move than silver.
Remember that long before a hurricane makes landfall.
Also, because it’s so compact, you can carry more ammo.

Machinist
Machinist

Now, I don? t know but I been told
It’ s hard to run with the weight of gold
On the other, I have heard it said
It’ s just as hard with the weight of lead
(Grateful Dead)

fujigm
fujigm

If you’re weighted down with lead, just throw some of it at those pursuing you.
It’s harder to run with even a small weight of lead if it’s in your body…

The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer

My recently passed buddy, a Vietnam veteran, was fond of this saying…

“Never own more than you can carry at a dead run.”.

RIP, Chris.

CCRider
CCRider

At 73 the most my most arduous morning task is bending over to put on my socks. This means bending over to pick up a coin requires discretion. So, any coin less than a quarter stays on the ground. Thank you, FED. Keep the change.

Iggy
Iggy

The article says 100 hundred today has the buying power of 13 dollars in 1969.My parents bought a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath ranch with a quarter acre lot on Long Island for 16k. The same house today is 500k.I think the figure is quite lower than 13 dollars .

Anonymous
Anonymous

Exactly. Grandparents home in suburban Boston 12k in 1950 sold for 600k few years back. They knocked it down to build a Mcmansion.

VOWG
VOWG

1970 my first new house was 14,500.

RiNS

Finding a dime on the ground is good luck. It is thought here in Nova Scotia that the dimes are found to remind those still above the ground that departed loved ones are still around.

BL
BL

They used to put silver dollars over the eyes of dead folks. That was back in the day when a silver dollar was worth a lot.

Machinist
Machinist

GrandPa used to put a half-dollar in a glass jug of milk before setting it in the spring house.

BL
BL

Putting silver in the milk kills the bacteria.

Machinist
Machinist

Bacteria, and a bullet cast from silver is one of the few weapons that are effective against a werewolf or witch.
I wonder if that also works on TPB and Glo-Blo ?

Daddy Joe
Daddy Joe

We need to be finding out soon. Meanwhile just use what’s at hand. Lead be fine.

BL
BL

$10,000 dollar denominated bills were really only used in interbank transactions and not part of regular circulation channels. This could change, just ask Zimbabwa.

Harrington Richardson: Gimme Sachwerte!
Harrington Richardson: Gimme Sachwerte!

Collectors have 365 of them supposedly. Biggest I ever saw was the $500 Grover Cleveland.

BL
BL

I have had opportunities to purchase 10,000 dollar notes and I passed. Back in the day they were canceled and the cost was around $300. They were demonetized and not really something I wanted in my collection. I tend to collect errors and rare notes where only a few examples are known to survive.

fujigm
fujigm

If the currency goes to shit, are the errors or rare notes still worth anything?
Like say a Zimbabwe Million Dollar note with an error.
Does it have any value, or is it just another piece of paper with a misprint?

Daddy Joe
Daddy Joe

It will be worth what the market will bear: shit plus

KJ is a faggot
KJ is a faggot

Unique has a value to some.

Worth, is subjective.

Like a Ferrari. “Worth” 100x as much as a POS car that will get you to the same place? Not to me. But on BaT, plenty think they are.

As DJ said, “worth what the market will bear”

Anonymous
Anonymous

I have a $100,000,000 Zimbabwa bill. It wouldn’t buy a loaf of bread when it was printed.

flash

Respect the penny, because after Uncle Schlomo finishes shaking you down, that’ll be all you have left.

comment image

Harrington Richardson: Gimme Sachwerte!
Harrington Richardson: Gimme Sachwerte!

WTF is wrong with these asshole Demonrats?

rhs jr
rhs jr

Everything.

The Central Scrutinizer
The Central Scrutinizer

Satan worshipers. Just that simple.

Still want to be friends with them? Marry them? Create more of them?

Or would it be better to simply be rid of them forever?

Machinist
Machinist

They should just buy Twitter.

rhs jr
rhs jr

Why buy what you already control?

Machinist
Machinist

They could fuck with Musk publicly.

Svarga Loka
Svarga Loka

Every time we go to an arcade, my kids dive far as they can under the machines to find all of the stray tokens and quarters, because they know I won’t spend money on that. It’s kind of embarrassing. They usually find enough coins to play one of the claw games that always drops the item because it has a spring mechanism that is so loose that it will never grab on properly 95% of the time. I think some bystanders probably pity my kids or think that they are homeless. Or that I am a cruel witch.

Of course they also pick up every penny and nickel they ever see on the street. A quarter feels like a lottery jackpot for them. It helps when you only have to bend down 43 inches.

ken31
ken31

Haha! I used to do that as a kid, too.

Daddy Joe
Daddy Joe

My oldest son used to shake down all the pay phones like slot machines. Rarely came back empty handed. Still a hustler to this day.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Giambruno?

Obviously, Native American derivation. Embarassed that i can’t recall which Tribe You ancestor, Sitting Bull, represented?

Fascinating history of minted currency. I suspect that Ruffles® have ridges to increase surface area and add strength, can polish off a tub of bacon/horseradish dip in no time. NO IDEA that said ridges were on coins to detect ‘paring’. Memory kinda sketchy, but i believe ‘alloying’ and even coating ’slugs’ with (MY)precious metals went clear back to Ancient Romanov Times. Hope nobody tries that with various configurations of Tungsten and Gold. Paper Gold? Mostly. However, the right strategy can cause massive increase in precious metals virtually overnight. roosevelt, for instance. he taketh away…

Seems like they tried their darnedest to eliminate coins at various interims throughout recent events. Clearly, thanks to Your just in time cost accounting, THEY were just trying to save Us tax donkeys money.

‘Real’ Paper Money? Several half-baked attempts at removing that as well. ‘Cause Covid Transmission, of course. A Bridge to far, as it were.

‘$ CASH $’? The most irrefutable would be a link to the treasury website. Trustworthiness incarnate. Probably STILL there, unless THEY upset algore. Pressed for time, so…

Just enter ‘more $100 bills in circulation than $1 bills’. In an unseemly twist of Irony, WEF popped up #6

EVERY FLEEING https://grammarhow.com/dictator-vs-tyrant-vs-despot/ wife/mistress (Alive or Dead) is inevitably revealed to be in possession of HUGE amounts of Benjamin’s. Must NOT be too bright. i pray that nanny’s return flight lands safely. If the plane breaks up mid-flight and the banding on the skids break too, fluttering $100 bills could obscure the sun.

Crash & Burn? (More) Toxic smoke and…AHHHH, The Atmosphere! Think of the Children. AND the Elderly.

More than one occasion in the same time frame where the individual store/area didn’t have web access/power. Ghost Busters didn’t answer. Even a child perceives real worth in an american dollar bill or change for that matter. Sure, prices are crazy. Fitting, to say the least.

Quite Enough.

P.S. say hello to your brothers. The Last of the Mohicans, Doug & Simon.

Sincerely, F. Value

Walt
Walt

When was the last time you saw someone pick up a penny off the street? A nickel? A dime?

Nowadays, even bums often can’t be bothered to pick up anything less than a quarter.

– Which doesn’t help their plight. It’s bad luck not to pick up a ‘lost’ coin, regardless of it’s value.

James
James

I pick up pennies and any other abandoned change,the smalls add up!

I also separate all my older pennies,cheap metal investing,same with older nickels!

Jdog
Jdog

Another idiot who does not understand the first thing about economics or hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is not regular inflation that gets out of control, it is a completely different animal with different causes.
Hyperinflation is not the result of monetary policy, it is the result of the loss of production. Wiemar had nothing to do with the amount of money the German government printed, it had everything to do with the reparations and blockades that went on long after the end of the war. It was France and England draining every drop of German production that caused Wiemar, because they were stealing everything Germany produced including food.
If you are starving, and a loaf of bread is $1000 you will pay it if you have it. That is what caused the hyperinflation, the money printing was simply the governments attempt to keep up with the need for cash that was caused by the theft of production.

Igby MacDavitt
Igby MacDavitt

Seems to me, if you slam the brakes on production, or put the pedal to the floor on printing, the results will be the same.

Jdog
Jdog

No, because the money which is printed has no method of getting into circulation until the prices go up first. They can print a gazillion dollars, but unless someone borrows it, it just sits there rotting.
To print money without demand is pushing on a string, it simply does not work.

n
n

Nothing will change until the people are hungry.
Slowly then all at once.
Fun times.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Sorry to do this but facts are facts
Todays Dollar valued at say a 1960 Dollar
Invert this
https://www.inflationtool.com/us-dollar/1960-to-present-value

100 dollars in 1960 are equivalent to 1,008.11 or a 1960 dollar is worth 10.0811 Dollars Today or
Todays dollar is worth 0.0991955242979 Dollars.

The inflation rate in the United States between 1960 and today has been 908.11%,

Gm stock 1 share 56 in 1965 currently 36.23 but at 697 in 1916 if we fake history and buy in at a theoretical 37 and sell it at 697 our return is 697/37 or .188378378378%

Gold 35.25 Today 1764.31 our return is 1764/35 or .504%

Please notes that if you invested in gold and expected to stay at or above the rate of inflation by investing gold, you failed. You would need a return of 9 to get there.

One more test if you save 1 dollar in 1960 and get a 10% (unreal) interest rate in 60 years you would have 6.73 or 6.73. Again no where near the ROI. So put your money where you think you might be the best return, but forget about the suggestion of keep GOLD to fight inflation. It simply not true.

https://smartasset.com/checking-account/savings-calculator#F8n9dX53Vd

https://sdbullion.com/gold-price-by-year

https://goldprice.org/gold-price-today

https://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/7-of-the-highest-stock-prices-in-history-brk-b-aapl-seb-nvr1114.aspx

Igby MacDavitt
Igby MacDavitt

“Gold 35.25 Today 1764.31 our return is 1764/35 or .504%” … Pleeeease tell me this is a typo.

Anonymous
Anonymous

it is but even 500% is still not 900%
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/finance/return-on-investment-roi-formula/

ROI = Investment Gain / Investment Base

so our example Ig=1764 IB=35 ROI =50.4 but that is simplfied ROI = IG( Final Price – Start Price) / Start Price

Gold (1764-35)/35 = 49.4 Dollar (.1-1)/1 =-.9 and if we change both numbers to dollars in today’s then Gold 35 becomes (1764(TD) – 350(TD))/350= 4.04 *100 for % is 404% which is less then 901% inflation of instead of losing 90% you lose 50%

(900-404)=496 meaning you still need to increase your return by 496% just to break even

A mistake is not using like units like you must convert feet to centimetres if you got something like you got 50 feet and a new door will take 10 CM. I make two mistakes not converting to like units and moving the decimal point the wrong way. I thought the result as a percent in which you divide by 100 ,but it is not you multiply by 100 for percent

Discover more from The Burning Platform

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading