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The End of The Penny (and of Congress??)

2025-11-14 · letter vlog · Hank · 7:05 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, community lore

Marking the likely end of the US penny, which Trump's Treasury stopped minting by ruling the necessary number zero, Hank tells John that Obama thought it needed Congress; he argues Congress has given its power away, mainly through filibuster paralysis, leaving presidents to act alone, and warns this invites an autocrat.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Archive clip on pennies; the final penny likely minted after Trump's Treasury rules the necessary number zero

  • ★★ John Green (quoted): An opening clip argues that money exists to facilitate exchange, that pennies don't do that effectively, and that the penny is a metaphor for larger problems. — 00:00:07
  • ★★★ Hank says that 15 years after John first called for its destruction, the final US penny has likely been minted. (hedged) — 00:00:07 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank says the penny is still legal and US law still requires the necessary amount to be made, but the Treasury under Trump has decided the necessary number is zero. — 00:00:07 · Donald Trump
  • ★ Hank says the penny's end knocks another square off his 2025 bingo card, which has been going pretty well. (playful) — 00:00:07

00:00:56 — Obama's Hangout answer that the penny needed legislation; the two readings of 'necessary' in the coinage law

  • ★★ Hank recalls that when John interviewed Obama on a Google+ Hangout about the penny, Obama said many small things that should be done are blocked by entrenched structures or the interests of a few. — 00:00:56 · Barack Obama, John Green
  • ★★ Barack Obama (quoted): In the replayed answer Obama says the penny needs legislation and that, given the big issues they face daily, they cannot get to it. — 00:00:56 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ Hank notes that Obama said he would need Congress to abolish the penny, and reminds viewers that presidents don't make laws. — 00:01:25 · Barack Obama, United States Congress
  • ★★★ Hank says Trump apparently did not need Congress: it comes down to two readings of a law requiring the Treasury to mint the coins necessary to meet the country's needs. — 00:01:25 · Donald Trump, United States Congress
  • ★★ Hank says that historically, and in Obama's reading, 'necessary' meant however many pennies commercial demand requires, and every Treasury secretary read it that way. (hedged) — 00:01:55 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ Hank says Trump's Treasury declared the necessary amount zero not because Congress repealed it, the mint couldn't make them, or demand vanished, since people still want them from banks, but because the president decided. — 00:01:55 · Donald Trump, United States Congress

00:02:24 — Trump tests the limits of executive power where statutes are vague or Congress is paralyzed

  • ★★ Hank finds this a mix of interesting, fascinating and scary. — 00:02:24
  • ★★ Hank doesn't think Obama cared much about the penny and agrees there were more important things, but says that reasoning only holds if getting rid of the penny is difficult. — 00:02:24 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ Hank says Trump also has higher priorities, but by his legal definition dropping the penny is so easy that he just did it, and he won't catch flak for it. — 00:02:24 · Donald Trump
  • ★★ Hank says Trump has done more controversial and legally questionable things: the president doesn't get to decide tariffs, but he found a flimsy loophole and uses it. — 00:02:53 · Donald Trump
  • ★★★ Hank says Trump repeatedly tests the outer boundary of executive power where statutes are vague or Congress paralyzed, recently fighting to keep people from food stamps even after a court ordered him to stop. — 00:02:53 · Donald Trump, United States Congress
  • ★★ Hank says much should have been done 20 years ago, such as immigration reform or a path to citizenship for Dreamers, but Congress couldn't because Congress can't do things. — 00:03:22 · United States Congress
  • ★★★ Hank says Obama's view of the penny as a legislative question made sense in 2013, when Congress was still at least theoretically a law-making body, and asks whether it still is. — 00:03:22 · Barack Obama, United States Congress

00:03:51 — How Congress became weak: blanket filibusters, must-pass spending packages, power ceded to the presidency

  • ★★★ Hank says Congress can barely pass anything unless it is stapled into a giant must-pass spending bill that itself barely passes. — 00:03:51 · United States Congress
  • ★★★ Hank says this had a beginning: after Obama's election Mitch McConnell decided to filibuster everything so Obama could never do anything, and asks why, once that was done, everyone wouldn't do it. — 00:03:51 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ Hank says Congress may look powerful but only has the power to stop things, which makes it extremely weak because things still need to get done. — 00:03:51 · United States Congress
  • ★★ Hank says Trump acts wherever a statute leaves wiggle room and waits for the courts; by the time legality is decided, the thing is done regardless. — 00:04:21 · Donald Trump
  • ★★★ Hank agrees the presidency has grown much more powerful, but says a big reason is that Congress appears to have intentionally given the presidency its power. (hedged) — 00:04:50 · United States Congress
  • ★★★ Hank says one legislative mechanism is left: giant filibuster-proof spending packages such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the One Big Beautiful Bill, shipping containers of an administration's policy. — 00:04:50 · United States Congress

00:05:31 — Nuance: the penny is less unpopular to drop now, but would have been a scandal under Obama

  • ★★ Hank says times have changed since John called for abolition: today most people don't even carry cash. — 00:05:31
  • ★★ Hank suggests that perhaps no one wanted to drop the penny back then because it was still too unpopular, and that it no longer is. (hedged) — 00:05:31
  • ★★ Hank thinks it would have been a huge controversy if Obama had declared the necessary number zero, called the end of democracy, while now it is eighth-page news. — 00:06:00 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ Hank says the country needs to look at the mechanisms that led Congress to give up its power, a weird thing for people who want to be powerful. — 00:06:00 · United States Congress

00:06:30 — Two outcomes: a Congress that solves problems or an autocrat; sign-off 'death to pennies'

  • ★★★ Hank says there are two solutions: Congress gets better at solving problems, or an autocrat claims only he can fix things and demands to be put in charge. — 00:06:30 · United States Congress
  • ★★★ Hank says viewers should be worried even if they like the person doing it now, and should imagine it done by someone they don't like. — 00:06:30
  • ★ Hank signs off with 'death to pennies'. (playful) — 00:06:59

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description congratulates John, with question marks, on the end of the penny. (playful) — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Abolish the US penny · Barack Obama · Donald Trump · separation of powers · United States Congress

Also: People: Mitch McConnell

Organizations: Google+ · United States Department of the Treasury · United States Mint

Concepts: authoritarianism · filibuster · tariff

Policies: Comprehensive immigration reform · Inflation Reduction Act · One Big Beautiful Bill Act · Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Also centred on Abolish the US penny: This Video Is Actually Three Videos

Also centred on separation of powers: What Trump's Doing

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