Regardless of whether the penny should be withdrawn from the American currency, the arguments in the sources fail to present an even somewhat compelling case; however, based on the greater lack of persuasiveness in the cases of the "anti-penny" arguments, one can conclude that to completely remove the penny from circulation, based on the claims stated in the documents, would be boarding on absurd, as they contain no real argument other than that pennies are annoying.
-Source B attempts to evoke sympathy for the penny in the reader as some strange attempt at pathos, however in a somewhat bizarre twist, which only succeeds in confusing the reader as to its purpose, Source B changes to offer support for the removal of the penny. The article references the theory of Jeff Gore, who has conjured up a mathematical equation, claiming that the penny is "a cost to the nation of over $15 billion per year..."(4). To simplify this, the whole equation is based off of facts that cannot be proven, and the entire $15 billion is essentially rooted in the assumption that Americans would spend that extra 20 seconds a day wasted on pennies working and earning a salary of $15 an hour (that's assuming double minimum wage for every American), all of which is lost due to the penny. Not to mention that realistically, that 20 seconds would be spent on one's cell phone or relaxing, because if they are out spending money, they are most likely not even at work, therefore not wasting work time, to begin with.
Source C- "the time has come to abolish the outdated, almost worthless, bothersome and wasteful penny" (6). If the penny is really so bothersome and wasteful, when why do people still use it? Also, there is the fact that no one is forcing anyone to use the penny. If it is one's personal preference not to use a penny, he or she has the freedom not to do so. If one is to claim that the penny is "worthless", they also might as well do so for most other forms of physical money, because the majority of people use credit or debit cards. If they are paying with physical money, they will likely do so in cash unless they want exact change, in which case the penny would be rather useful. C also claims that the dime is the new penny, but with economics always changing and increasing and decreasing values of different currencies, who is to say that there will be a time when American currency is strong again and the penny becomes a strong element of economics again? Eliminating the penny will only prevent that from happening.
Source F- Though not an extremely compelling argument, as many elements of this nation's history have come and gone, to argue that the penny part of American History though its form has changed is more persuasive then to say it is a bit of nuisance.
I like how you first asserted that both of the arguments (for and against the abolition of the penny) are weak, and then went on to pick the argument that you thought was weaker. In addition, I liked your usage of the rhetorical question, "if the penny is really so bothersome and wasteful, when why do people still use it?", when describing source D. If you were to actually write this essay out, you should use that rhetorical question as well as questions like it to continue to engage the reader.
ReplyDeleteReally good job :)
-Kaitlin