It’s all about feel-good rubbish from Congress, not practicality. If we were being practical not only would the cent be gone, we’d be using those $1 coins and have a widely-circulating $2 coin or bill as well, the same as every other major country that figured things out years ago.

So long as Congress is allowed to micromanage our currency, we’re going to be stuck with a wasteful hodgepodge. I wonder if there are any other places where a legislature tells their Mint what coins to make and how to make them.

Well yes, they were an incredibly stupid idea given that billions of dollar coins are already in storage. Nobody said current coinage policies were smart…if they were, the cent would be long gone.