AMERICANA / LOST OUR CENTS — NOW WHAT?

Lincoln Cent [1909 to 2025].

The U.S. penny is dead. But the economic, cultural, and market fallout is only beginning. 

The United States Mint has pressed its final penny. No ceremony. No farewell tour. Just a quiet shutdown of the dies that produced the country’s most ubiquitous coin for more than two centuries. 

The decision ends a monetary era, but it also creates a rare moment of national disruption — part economic inconvenience, part cultural jolt, part market opportunity. The penny may have been economically irrational, but ending it introduces a new set of problems that no spreadsheet fully accounts for. 

This is the dilemma facing America today. 

The Government Solved a Cost Problem and Exposed a Behavioral One 

For years, the penny cost more to manufacture than its face value. Lawmakers finally acted, eliminating a federal money-loser. 

But now comes the friction. 

Billions of pennies remain in circulation, yet no new ones will replace them. Businesses must implement rounding policies. States must decide whether to regulate consistency. Consumers — especially cash-dependent Americans — must recalibrate their daily transactions in real time. 

The government saved money. 

But it also forced a psychological rewrite of how Americans think about value, precision, and fairness at the cash register. 

The Market Shock: A 230-Year Coin Series Is Frozen Overnight 

Numismatics is driven by a force Wall Street understands well: finite supply meets sudden finality. The moment the last penny left the press, the entire Lincoln series — 1909 through 2025 — became a fixed asset class. This is no longer history in motion. This is history locked. And that immediately rewires the market: 

• Key dates spike. 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922 “No D,” 1955 double die — all are moving upward. 

• High-grade common cents are revalued. MS-67 and MS-68 examples once ignored now command real inspection. 

• The 2025 penny becomes an instant modern flagship. Not rare, but historically final — and that creates competition. 

• Copper hoarding intensifies. Pre-1982 cents become a commodity play, not a curiosity. In securities terms, the penny just shifted from “active issuance” to “closed fund” — and investors are repositioning. 

Biggest Winner: Nostalgia. 

Biggest Loser: Liquidity. 

Americans react emotionally to small symbols. They are already hoarding pennies — not for profit, but for sentiment. This removes millions of cents from circulation every week, artificially tightening supply and accelerating the transition to a de facto penny-free economy faster than regulators anticipated. 

This hoarding behavior also generates two systemic issues: 

1. Liquidity distortion — Pennies still count as legal tender, but they are disappearing into coffee cans, jars, glove compartments, and desk drawers faster than they can circulate. 

2. Uneven transition costs — Lower-income Americans, who rely more heavily on cash, bear the brunt of rounding practices before retailers and states harmonize standards. In other words: The penny’s economic inefficiency is gone — but its logistical inefficiency remains. 

Numismatics Must Now Replace Its Gateway Drug 

For over a century, the Lincoln cent has been the entry point for American coin collecting — affordable, accessible, democratic. 

Its disappearance raises a real question for the industry: What replaces the coin that introduced four generations to the hobby? Quarters? Too complicated. Nickels? Too few key dates. Dollars? Too expensive. Digital money? No emotional connection. 

The industry must now build a new on-ramp for young collectors. Losing the penny is not just a minting event — it is a structural shift in the culture of American numismatics. 

The Broader Economic Symbolism 

Ultimately, killing the penny is a policy decision rooted in efficiency. But it also broadcasts a deeper message: America is willing to discard legacy symbols when the math no longer supports them. That is both modern and melancholy. A sign of fiscal responsibility — and a sign of what we lose when cost curves dictate cultural artifacts. 

Future historians will view November 2025 as the moment the U.S. finally aligned its smallest unit of currency with economic reality. 

But sociologists will read it differently: as the moment America learned that even the tiniest symbol carries weight. The penny was never worth much. Now that it’s gone, we’re discovering just how valuable it actually was. 

AMERICANA / THE GUARDRAILS THAT REMAIN

OPINION: PillartoPost.org Daily Internet Magazine.

 When the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that a president has broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, many Americans felt a deep shock. The decision broke with every historical understanding of the presidency. It expanded presidential power in a way the Founders never intended. For many, it felt like a pillar of democracy had cracked.

 But a republic does not rest on one pillar. It rests on many. Even when one weakens, others still stand. American democracy still includes Congress, the states, the lower courts, and the people themselves. Power has shifted, but it has not vanished. Understanding these remaining safeguards is the key to preventing this decision from becoming a permanent shield for presidential abuse. 

 Congress still has the power to make laws that define limits on presidential behavior. The Court did not eliminate Congress’s authority to strengthen protections around the Justice Department, to clarify what actions count as abuses of office, or to demand transparency. Will Congress act? That is a political question. But the power remains. 

 States also still hold authority. The ruling affects only federal prosecution for federal acts. It does not take away the power of states to investigate crimes that harm their residents. A president may be immune in Washington, but not necessarily in New York, Georgia, Arizona, or California. The Founders built this dual system to prevent power from concentrating too tightly in one place. That safeguard still works. 

 Lower federal courts still decide what counts as an official act. The Supreme Court gave broad principles, but it did not give detailed rules. Every future case will begin with a judge deciding whether a president was acting within the true scope of the job or simply using the office to shield wrongdoing. Over time, courts can narrow the meaning of “official act,” limiting the reach of immunity. 

 Elections remain the final check. No court can shield a president from political consequences. Voters can remove a leader who tries to use immunity as a license for misconduct. The ballot box is older than the Court itself, and it remains the most powerful democratic tool. 

 Civil society also still matters. Journalists, teachers, clergy, veterans, lawyers, students, and everyday citizens shape public values. They influence what the country tolerates and what it refuses to accept. When legal guardrails weaken, cultural and civic guardrails often strengthen in response. Democracy persists because people refuse to give up on it. 

 The Court’s ruling is serious and troubling. It opens the door to potential abuses. But it is not the end of the American system. It is a challenge to it. Democracies do not fall because a ruling goes wrong. They fall when citizens stop pushing back. Americans have never been good at staying quiet. Some guardrails are still there. They now depend on us.