Final Paper Topic

Topic:
      My final paper will be about the termination of the U.S. penny. 

Introduction: 

      Let's begin with a riddle: what's small, round, has Abraham Lincoln's face on it, and costs the United States nearly $1 billion dollars every year? The answer is the U.S. penny. The penny is a lot like Lindsay Lohan. At one point both had good intentions, were well respected, and were innocent. However, due to several factors both have been transformed, corrupted, and an intervention is necessary. When the penny was first introduced in 1793 it had good motives and truly was a good idea. When innocent people were burned alive in the Salem witch trials, it was also a good idea. In this paper I will show you why the penny needs to be eliminated with 5 main reasons. I'll even explore the counter-argument to show you that there are no legitimate reasons to keep the penny in production or use. 

Outline:

1. Introduction

2. Body
           1. The U.S. penny production
                   1. More in depth history of penny
                              1. Creation
                                       2. Physical composition
                    2. Pennies today
                             1. Physical composition
                                       1. Loss of minting pennies

                                            2. Use metals for other things

                    3. Changing composition isn’t enough
          2. Opportunity cost
                      1. Explain what opportunity cost is
                      2. Calculations using average wage and conditions
                       3. x amount of $ for each...

           3. Historical precedents
                         1. Other countries eliminated their penny, no major effects
                                  1. List of countries who’ve eliminated their penny
                                  2. How other countries do this
                         2. Canada recently eliminating its penny
          4. Rounding / Economic effects
                       1. Would we lose money rounding?
                       2. Examples of other countries
5. Usage / Practicality

                        1. Past usage / practicality
                       2. Current usage / practicality
                                   1. Vending machines / toll booths
                                    2. Paying with only pennies shows irritation / annoyance
           6. Other side of the argument
                   1. Charities lose money?
                   2. Historical value
                   3. Abraham Lincoln disrespect

3. Conclusion
         1. Good intentions, but obvious backfire
               1. Thorn in the side of economy
         2. Restate thesis
         3. What would you do?

Conclusion:

If you carefully consider all of the points I've expressed, it should be clear that the U.S. penny needs to be abolished. The penny really did have good potential and usage WHEN IT WAS CREATED, but now it is obvious that the original plans backfired. Especially in today's economic state, everything we can do helps. Why would we keep the penny and lose millions of dollars and time worth billions of dollars? It simply isn't logical. If you hand is injured and you put it on a lit stove, the logical action is to remove it. With everything in the paper considered, I'd like to end this paper with a question. What would you do about the penny in the United States? Would you keep it, or eliminate it?