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The president of O’Leary Ventures, Kevin O’Leary, shares if he is concerned about the tariffs of President Donald Trump about steel and aluminum, the destination of the United States penny and the management of the sale of Tiktok.
President Donald Trump is trying to end the production of new cents and recently told the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent, for that to happen.
Trump revealed on Sunday night that he had “ordered my secretary of the United States that “this is so antieconomic!”
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, arrives to speak during an event of the election night at the Palm Beach Convention Center, November 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Somodevilla / Getty images / getty images)
The measure has raised the question of how US consumers could be affected and, according to an expert, the impact will be insignificant.
“I don’t think I have any impact on consumers. I think it’s very sensible, because nobody uses cents. Nobody needs cents,” said David Bahnsen, founder of the Bahnsen group, Fox Business. “As well as a matter of basic practicality and cost benefits, the studies I have seen are that it costs three cents to make a penny, so there is something quite vice versa about those mathematics.”
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The cost of making and distributing a penny stood at 3.69 cents in 2024, indicated the most recent annual report of the US House of Currency.
The US mint sent 3.17 billion new cents last year. The gross cost of those cents, $ 117 million, was significantly greater than its combined value of $ 31.7 million, according to the report.
“In terms of affecting consumers, does it make a difference in their spending habits so as not to have an exact change to the extent that it exists? It is so marginal that it would be a rounding error,” Bahnsen said.
The cents are shown in Glenview Coin & Collectibles July 6, 2006 in Glenview, Ill. (Tim Boyle / Getty images / getty images)
Canada moved away from its version of the penny more than a decade ago, and other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Sweden took similar measures long before that. In Canada, after the government began eliminating the cents, rounding or going down to the five closest cents became common for cash transactions.
Bahnsen said that rounding cash transactions “is less likely to occur in a more digital payment environment,” noting that not many people “are paying with cash” these days.
A report published last summer by Financial Reserve Financial Services He found 32% of payments in October 2023 used credit cards and a similar but slightly smaller participation, 30%) used debit cards. Meanwhile, cash payments represented 16% of transactions, according to the report.
The Canadian government said in its 2012 economic action plan that getting rid of cents in New Zealand, Australia and other countries “did not cause an increase in prices inflation.”
The US production. Definition of new cents would have little relationship with the advice, Bahnsen said.
He also pointed out that existing cents will remain in circulation, “but you are really talking about more than one collectible article, not a consumption article, not a transactional currency that people pay.”
“Ultimately, the reason for President Trump here was to be more efficient, and I think the Treasury department is wasting many money making cents that do not have real commercial use,” Bahnsen told Fox Business. “This is not a devastating Earth event, but it is something that is marginally more efficient, and that is the work of the Treasury Department.”
The Americans of Cents Common, who has criticized Trump’s effort, argued in a press release from the end of January to leave the penny “will not save money from the government.”
A lot of cents of us in a photographic illustration in Washington, DC, February 10, 2025. (Saul Loeb / AFP through Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Many general expenses costs would remain and would have to be absorbed by other coins without the penny,” said executive director Mark Weller. “In addition, there would be a greater demand for expensive coins, which means even more costs.”
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The group receives significant funds from Artazn, according to CNN. According to reports, that company supplies blank spaces that are used in the production of mint coins.
Americans for common cents have proposed that the government “reexamine how the mint assigns its general costs and focuses on reducing the cost of producing five cents” instead of moving away from the cents.
It cost the mint almost 13.8 cents to produce a nickel last year, according to the agency.
The group also has pushed back Against arguments that the penny has no value and has argued that a “rounding tax” resulting from getting rid of the denomination of a penny “would disproportionately affect people without access to banking or non -monetary payment methods.
