Mysteries Behind U.S. National Penny Shortage Soon to be Revealed by Free and Clear Foundations of America

Volunteers around the country, working for the Free and Clear Foundations of America know what is going on behind the scenes. National Penny Shortages and the Launch of The "Free and Clear America" Campaign will reveal decade old secrets.

Washington D.C. (PRWEB) January 13, 2004 -- Free and Clear Press Corps - When the One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America at its second session held at the City of Washington D.C. on Tuesday, the 25th day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four passed a Joint Resolution designating the week beginning October 16, 1994, as "National Penny Charity Week" there was an ulterior motive.

Almost a decade has passed when 170 billion pennies--$1.7 billion were circulating in the U.S. economy. Even back then financial institutions, merchants, and retail establishments were reporting a shortage of pennies.

Government officials thought this shortage was a result of American people hoarding their pennies but the Free and Clear Foundations of America is soon to launch its Free and Clear America campaign which will reveal the true cause behind the nations 50% increase in demand for the coppers.

During fiscal year 1994, the United States Mint spent $1.64 million to produce 13.3 billion pennies in order to counter the effect of what top officials at the Fed and Mint thought was hoarding.

Penny production in the United States over the past decade has poured another 250 billion pennies into the market, and copper prices recently have seen new 52 week highs along with other hard commodities such as gold, silver and platinuum as the dollar continues to sink to new historical lows against the Euro and Yen, with no intervention from the US, despite efforts by the Japanese to stem the tide.

And despite all those pennies put into circulation by the U.S. Mint, researchers at the Free and Clear Policy Institute, sponsored by the Foundations estimate there is less than 1 billion pennies in circulation per state. Less than 50 billion nationwide.

The dollar is in a gradual free fall say economists at the Institute, who are predicting a bottom for the Yen when it hits 100 to the dollar, and a sudden steep rise in interest rates is needed to jolt the free fall to stabilize markets.

In 1994 the U.S. Congress, through the passage of its one time joint resolution attempted to get Americans donating what they interpreted as "hoarded pennies" to charities thinking that it provided the charities with funds, diminished the shortage of pennies by putting them back into circulation, lowered the demand on the United States Mint to produce additional pennies, and ultimately saved the United States Treasury money. In all good reality, Americans were not hoarding pennies, they were "saving" them.

Penny Lover's of America is a not-for-profit charitable organization that seeks to promote character, scholarship, and patriotism among America's youth by collecting penny donations to
finance their educational pursuits.

In 1994 Penny Lover's of America was celebrating its 10th anniversary by conducting a penny recycling campaign.

This year, officials at the Free and Clear Foundations, through its' Penny Appreciation Fund, are hoping to coordinate a joint venture national drive to raise ten billion pennies and lay them on the doorsteps of the Federal Reserve Banks.

Thousands of volunteers are being sought to participate in every U.S. city where the Fed has a branch or an office. The Fed has over 600 Offices around the nation.

Despite the "National Penny Charity Week" coinciding with Penny Lover's of America's "National Penny Campaign Recycling Project" both of which were designed to assist in alleviating the penny shortage and raise funds for charitable and community causes, the demand for pennies in 1999 alone had increased by 33% from previous years averages.

Something is a brewing!

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled in 1994 and declared that the President was authorized and requested to issue a proclamation designating the week
of October 16, 1994, as ``National Penny Charity Week'' and to call on the people of the United States to observe such week with appropriate
ceremonies and activities, including the donation of pennies to charities, particularly to those which provide direct services to the nation's underprivileged and disadvantaged population, and to worthy community causes.

There were some non profit groups that managed to raise a million pennies here and a million pennies there. A million pennies is no more than $10,000, and it costs the government more than a penny to mint each one. And you thought $500 toilet seats were expensive.

"It would be far less costly to issue plastic money cards that could be reloaded with electronic money, a burgeoning industry gaining wider and wider acceptance by those still trying to be working class heros", said one volunteer.

On Thursday, August 17, 2000, just shy of six years later, Oklahoma was reportedly running low on pennies. In Oklahoma City, pundits and bankers were saying it's not time to declare a penny shortage in Oklahoma, but that was the one coin in shorter supply in the state than any other, a spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve in Oklahoma City said back then.

While some areas of the country were running short on all manner of coins, Patricia Thompson said that "Oklahoma is low on pennies but has plenty of other coins in circulation."

"It happened around this time last year, as well," she said back then. Observers and volunteers at the Foundations know what is behind the growing national penny shortage but are not quite ready to release the information publicly. "Not until we launch the Free and Clear America Campaign," said a spokesperson.

Bankers and Coinstar have made it easier for the public to turn in their spare change where once it was considered a bother to bring in a pile of loose change to your local teller and request either bills or a deposit slip for your account.

They used to make you count it. For the past four years, all that has changed and in some various places around the country, depending on certain events taking place behind the scenes, some banks were actually offering to pay premiums of 10% for rolled pennies, just to try to cover their own internal shortages, and save time in the process.

A plea to Oklahomans to help by emptying their penny jars and spending the money or putting it in the bank didn't really work. With the greater and greater amount of consumer credit being more and more available to any working person with a better than minimum wage job, most people surveyed would rather not fiddle with spare change and over 90% of homeowners surveyed over the past four years have some type of jar, container or storage place for all their spare change in their homes.

"At least, they'll be earning a little interest that way,'' she said four years ago. But today, interest rates at banks are so low, and the shock and awe from the scandals still surfacing on Wall Street have shifted people into finding different ways to save their money, even if it means not getting any interest at all. No risk is better than any risk at all for most people who have been once burned twice shy.

The undercurrent is that people are stressed out about their debts, stressed out from too much coffee that keeps going up in price, and keeps them wired at work. $4.50 for a cup of java might be average chump change for a west coast San Francisco Executive, but to the average American, even a cup of joe at 7-11 is getting expensive.

Last month, an indpendent survey just before new years revealed that 90% of all new years resolutions were either to lower one's debt or lose weight.

"When the campaign is finally launched, everyone will be scrambling for any pennies remaining in circulation", said another volunteer. "It's kind of exciting to know that America will soon take back the control of their own money through such a simple process that is easy to understand and empowers one and all against the funny business that has been going on for so long now in our economy!"

Meanwhile, economists, publicists and volunteers at the Foundation have only one message to give to America before they launch the Free and Clear America campaign -- "Save All Your Pennies!"
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