Dave from The View From Below reads the New York Times so you don’t have to, & confirms something I’ve suspected as of late: The lump of metal used to make pennies is now worth more than the penny itself is.

Sound familiar? Here’s some quick history, from the Gold (& other metals) Stock blog:

During the heyday of inflation in the 1970s, the price of copper rose so much that a penny was nearly worth more than a penny. That can�t happen. Printing money is a big money-maker for the government. […]

About 20 years ago, the mint worked to correct the problem of having our money actually worth something. (You see, the U.S. dollar is the original faith-based initiative.) The mint changed the penny�s formula from 95% copper/5% zinc, to 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.

At this rate they’ll be making coins from lint.