991022 Debate!-Michael

Debate!
Do Pennies Make ents?
BY TIME FOR KIDS

A penny is only worth a cent. But each one-cent coin costs 1.7 cents to produce. That's why some people would like put an end to pennies.
Lawmakers have tried to retire the one-cent coin in the past. In 2001, a congressman tried to do away with the penny. If the "Legal Tender Modernization Act" had passed, merchants would have been required to round up or round down to the nearest nickel on all cash purchases. If the price of an item were $5.02, a customer would pay $5.00. But for a $5.03 item, he or she would be charged $5.05.
Critics of the penny point out how much money would be saved if we said goodbye to the one-cent coins. But many people think that pennies are worth saving. The coin is part of our country's history, say penny fans. After all, it was the first U.S. coin to feature a President: Abraham Lincoln.
A group called Americans for Common Cents is worried that merchants would always round up to the higher five-cent number, even if the price were actually closer to the lower five-cent number. The group also points out that there are charities that collect donations in pennies.
U.S. military bases in other countries already round purchase prices up or down because it's too expensive to ship pennies to the bases. Australia and New Zealand have retired their one-cent coins.
Should the U.S. follow their example and do away with pennies? Explain your opinion in an email to tfkasks4you@timeforkids.com. Your writing could be featured in a future issue of TIME For Kids.


http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,1921366,00.html


991022 Debate!-Michael
Do you know that how much it will take to make a penny? If a penny worth more than one cent than making the penny will cost even more money to make it! In America this kind of thing happened! Each one-cent coin costs 1.7 cents to produce so making ten one cent coins will cost seventeen cents! If I am the money producer, I will not keep producing the money because it is too expensive to make. The coin will also make people who sell things raise the price of a thing because people who sell things want to make money that is their goal of selling things. So how will America think a good way to solve the problem?? I think they can use cheaper things to make coins. Or another way is to change the value of the money such as using the same materials to make a coin but it can be a coin that has a value of two cents. So what will the US government do? I think in Taiwan there is also a coin problem. Maybe someday later we can see Taiwan using a different kind of money and it will be very special.