Killing the penny shortchanges the poor, UC Irvine professor says

MAKING CHANGE: How local businesses react to penny phase-out

The Penny is being phased out of the U.S. Monetary system in 2026. What do local businesses think?

Killing the penny shortchanges the poor, UC Irvine professor says

Millions of unbanked and underbanked consumers wind up paying the difference in a rounding-up scenario.

A penny for my thoughts

Editor’s Note: This column was included in our June 5  edition of The Pulse, a weekly newsletter that also features stories that recently ran on BankBeat.biz. The decision of the Trump administration to stop printing the penny is long overdue and will save the government money while leaving the already little-needed currency even harder to use.   Trump had announced his decision to end production of the penny in February, calling it “wasteful” o…

Say Goodbye to the Penny—But at What Cost? How Rounding Up Could Quietly Raise Prices and Hurt Working Families

With the recent decision to eliminate the U.S. penny, policymakers and pundits alike have rushed to assure the public that the change will be benign—an overdue modernization that saves the government money without disrupting everyday life. But this sunny outlook overlooks a real risk: inflation, driven not by economic fundamentals but by behavioral economics and the pricing habits of businesses. Let’s be clear: cash transactions won’t disappear …