After Killing the Penny, Inflation Now Targets the Dollar
Congress axed the penny, but the real villain — inflation — is still eroding your purchasing power dollar by dollar.
The penny is dead. Congress finally pulled the plug on America's most useless coin, and lawmakers wasted no time patting themselves on the back. But here's the thing nobody in Washington wants to say out loud: they fixed the symptom, not the disease.
Inflation is what killed the penny. When a coin can't buy anything — not even a fraction of what it once could — it stops making economic sense to mint it. That's not a manufacturing problem. That's a purchasing-power problem. And it didn't stop at one cent.
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Now that same slow-motion erosion has the dollar in its crosshairs. Think about what a single dollar gets you today versus a decade ago. The math is ugly. Every year inflation runs above target, your cash loses ground. The penny was just the first casualty that was too obvious to ignore anymore.
Congress celebrated like they'd done something bold. They hadn't. Retiring a coin that costs more to produce than it's worth is basic fiscal housekeeping, not monetary policy heroism. The harder conversation — about why money keeps losing value in the first place — didn't happen. It never does.
If you're a trader or a saver, this is your signal. Cash sitting idle is a guaranteed loser in an inflationary environment. The penny's obituary is a reminder that inflation doesn't negotiate, it just accumulates — quietly, relentlessly, until even your dollars start feeling like coins nobody wants. Continue reading at MarketWatch.com
