There’s only about $0.59 melt value for $1.00 worth of Zincolns. Does the $1.40 figure that you stated include the mining and minting costs?

My info came from Eco Geek. Where did you get your numbers Chris? Here are some quotes from CNN:
“average price for zinc has shot up from 35 cents a pound in 2002 to 63 cents a pound in 2005 — driven in large part by increased demand from China.”
“Over half of the U.S. Mint’s coin production comes in the form of pennies, which are made of 97.5 percent zinc.”
“The cost of producing the coin has risen from .97 cent per penny in 2005 to 1.4 cent per penny. At that rate, the Mint would spend some $44 million producing pennies this year, nearly $14 million more than in 2005.”

Thus the amount includes raw materials and production costs in 2005 dollars.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/01/news/newsmakers/penny/index.htm

What are they making the Amero out of? is it smeltable for value? How about the Euro? The paper dollar certainly has lost value, how low can it go? I use plastic money and expect that before too long everyone will. Canada has a huge gold colored dollar coin, nice looking but put a hundred dollars in your pockets and you will find your pants on the floor! Gimme plastic, and free monthly accounting any time!