When It Comes to the Penny, Washington Makes No Sense

If you ran a business that sells a product for less than it costs to make, you’d soon be broke.

So why is the U.S. government still in the business of making pennies? Each one of those tiny tributes to Abraham Lincoln costs 1.62 cents to manufacture. In other words, if you had the proper equipment to melt pennies, the raw materials would bring a 62% return on your investment, minus costs -- and ignoring the pesky little fact that melting legal tender is illegal.