President Trump attended the Super Bowl yesterday, becoming the first sitting president to go to the big game.

His attendance met with a roar of approval from the crowd during the National Anthem, when he and daughter Ivanka appeared on the big screen.

The president also met with some of the victims and first responders from the New Orleans New Year’s terror attack.

President Donald Trump meets the families of the victims and first responders from the January 1st terrorist attack in New Orleans. #SBLIX pic.twitter.com/jqPRI6Oyf0

— NFL (@NFL) February 9, 2025

But if you happened to actually watch the game, it was… anti-climactic. If you weren’t a fan of either team (I am not), then what you are watching for is one of three things – an interesting game, the Super Bowl commercials, or the halftime show. The game was not interesting, as the Philadelphia Eagles pretty much ran away with the ball. The commercials proved to be more misses than hits, with some ending up as pure nightmare fuel (the singer Seal as an actual seal, for example). The halftime show was apparently for people under the age of 30, as the Gen Z viewers in my general vicinity loved it, and the rest of us couldn’t understand a single word.

The game was so boring that President Trump ended up leaving well before it was over, and then he sent out this post on Truth Social before the 4th quarter ended.
https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1888778603305083136
And so, the penny drops. Quite literally.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, posted on X last month that producing the penny is costing American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, suggesting that it may be one of the items it may consider eliminating.

Musk’s initiative, aimed at cutting $2 trillion in federal spending, didn’t directly state that the penny would be eliminated, but highlighted that it costs three times more to make than it’s actually worth.

According to the U.S. Mint, each penny costs 3.69 cents to produce in fiscal year 2024, costing taxpayers $119 million. This marked the 19th consecutive year in which production exceeded its face value.

In the U.S., the penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792. When it was first produced, the coin was larger and made of pure copper. Today’s smaller coin is made mostly of zinc, according to the U.S. Mint.

Now, people are going to have very strong opinions about this, but I actually think it’s important to make the distinction that President Trump is not eliminating the penny itself. Cutting penny production, as DOGE pointed out, will save us money. The one cent coin denomination will still exist, so we won’t be rounding things up to nickel and dime everyone. Since everyone was busy watching the game, there weren’t many immediate reactions – but that likely won’t last.

Democrats are going to claim the penny is a foundation of democracy and that this is tyranny, aren’t they? https://t.co/KJnjmEkkiR

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 10, 2025

However, the penny discussion is a stand-in for the debate over physical cash versus virtual dollars. As time goes on, more and more businesses, and places like sports stadiums, are moving to a cashless system. It is far cleaner and easier for businesses to account for transactions when everything is filtered straight through whatever purchasing system is being used. Yes, it is convenient, but that convenience often comes with a surcharge for processing fees – which, ironically, can be pennies on the dollar, but those pennies add up, even in the virtual world. And any time a computer system goes down at a business, that nearly always puts a hard stop to commerce – unless someone has cash.

There are still many places where “cash is king” in the American economy – for instance, many gas stations offer a discount if a person is paying in cash. Many small businesses prefer to be “cash only” in order to avoid service fees. Yes, it does require more bookkeeping, but the trade-off of having cash in hand is obvious. Not all teenagers have debit or credit cards, or Venmo accounts, and it is much easier to teach a kid about the value of money when bills and coins are sitting right in front of them. Most of us have stories about opening a piece of mail, or a birthday card, to find cash inside, and the thrill that gave us.

The bottom line, though, is that DOGE’s job is to find where the waste is, and point it out. We have $36 trillion reasons to start cutting any and all waste that can be found within the federal government. The pennies really do add up, as do the millions that have been handed out via government aid programs. If entitlement programs are not going to be touched, as President Trump has said, then everything else is fair game for a thorough audit.

Will we really miss the penny when it is no longer in production? Since the coin isn’t being removed from circulation, probably not. Will it make us think twice about letting a child toss a penny in a fountain? Maybe. Is there a robust debate over whether moving to a cashless society is a good thing or a bad thing? Yes. That debate will continue on – but for now, it will move forward without the penny.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click