Quote from the Wikipedia article: "Mark Weller has argued that eliminating the penny would lead to retailers rounding prices mainly up, not down, leading to inflation, but has offered little evidence to support this assertion." Canada eliminated their penny 12 years ago. It did not lead to inflation or significant changes in the behavior of consumers or retailers. Mark Weller's organization also receives funding from the company that supplies zinc planchets to the US Mint. Hardly impartial. The penny's time has come and passed. It just makes no sense to keep minting a coin that costs more to mint than it's worth.
Correct! As stated in the WSJ article I shared he is a paid lobbyist. There was a time when lobbying was against the law.
The right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" has been there for a very long time. Bribery should be illegal, but more recent court decisions seem to have pretty much equated it with speech.
Just paying a private individual to say something isn't by itself bribery (or acting would be illegal lol). It's really only illegal if he's a government official with the power or authority to do something for the people or organizations paying him money. Not saying what he's doing is illegal, but it does mean his words shouldn't be taken as impartial. He has every right to argue for continuing the cent. I just think he's already lost the argument.
If we stop making the cent we might want to stop the nickel as well. Just get it over with all at one time. We know that Canada quit making the cent many years ago. I wonder how much they still circulate today.
The problem isn't in paying a private individual to say something - except that "something" can now be "I represent concerned citizens who would like you to vote for/against Bill XXXX, and would like to donate $XXXXXXX to your reelection campaign."
Bribery IS illegal, no court has ever suggested otherwise, and very distinct from political speech, contributing to politicians' or political parties' campaigns, or lobbying elected officials. Free speech and redressing the government for grievances are Constitutional rights, even if one is paid by someone to do it. The fact one is paid to do it doesn't make it bribery, but it is fair to question their biases (which is also protected free speech). A smart person would never put it precisely that way, because that would unarguably be blatant bribery. Any honest and reasonably intelligent politician would immediately suspect that as a bribery sting. Individuals and organizations are allowed to donate to political parties and campaigns, and there's a lot of laws and regulations about what is and is not allowed. And anyone has the right to convince legislators to pass or not pass legislation. That much is fact; discussing opinions on the matter would be getting into political debate not allowed here. My only real point is Mark Weller should not be taken as impartial. Also, there's really no evidence for his assertion that eliminating the penny would increase inflation; in fact evidence from other countries suggest it wouldn't likely be the case. I just think from a purely practical standpoint the arguments for getting rid of the penny have more weight than arguments for keeping it. The fact that it costs significantly more to mint than it's worth I would say is argument enough. The current president apparently agrees.
-jeffB said: ↑ The problem isn't in paying a private individual to say something - except that "something" can now be "I represent concerned citizens who would like you to vote for/against Bill XXXX, and would like to donate $XXXXXXX to your reelection campaign." A smart and experienced person such as myself who has lobbied state officials and attended many political fund raisers on behalf of trade groups knows this is exactly how it is done. Only the naive or the inexperienced would state differently.
I believe hardly any if at all, and I believe they disappeared in less than a year. Based on my experiences back in the cent shortage of 1974 I think we would see about the same thing here.
