Cedar Hill Prep School

Good day everyone, my name is Zoe Rivera and I strongly believe that we should abolish the penny once and for all! Pennies don't make any CENTS! Now, if I may, I would like to assert my three main points.

1. America is converted to electronic banking; there is no use for ONE cent.

2. Pennies are an absolute waste of space and time.

3. Pennies are toxic and harmful to the environment.

Now, if I may, I would like to move onto my starting point.

America is transforming into a more modern, electronically-focused nation, similar to how urban areas in Japan are. There is no need for petty change such as the penny, and even the nickel! Pennies even cost more than a penny! To add to that statement, the cost of the metal (pennies are made of zinc and pure copper), the cost of running the mint, paying the citizens who work at the U.S. Mint, and several other maintenance! Do the math, and making a single penny cost approximately 2 cents! Getting rid of the useless zinc coin just makes good financial sense. According to the U.S. Mint, both the penny and the nickel have been produced at a loss since 2006 because the materials used cost more than the value of the coins. By some estimates, producing a single penny can cost more than 2 cents. With added enforcement, I declare that the penny isn't even worth a penny!

We are looking forward to the future of technology. Roy Finklehiem, a native of local Michigan, states that getting rid of the penny would be a wise choice, saying that, "In about 2025, that one cent that you found on the sidewalk isn't going to matter anymore. It's gonna matter whether you have that new IPad or not." (source: littleus.org) According to an internationally conducted survey, 49 percent of moderates and 47 percent of liberals strongly believe that the penny is not a relevant form of currency that America should waste its time on. Electronic banking is conducted in all 50 states of America; it is quite irrelevant to keep a piece of worthless copper sitting there when it is worth hardly anything! ATMs are electronic terminals that let you bank almost virtually any time. To withdraw cash, make deposits, or transfer funds between accounts, you generally insert an ATM card and enter your PIN. Both types of digital banking are on the rise. In 2010, 46% of U.S. adults, or 58% of internet users, said they bank online. (source: pewinternet.org)

Online banking is simpler, easier, and more environmentally friendly than the copper pennies we use! Electronic banking will change the world for the better, not the polar opposite!

I would know like to elaborate on my next point.

Pennies are an absolute waste of space and time. A penny costs more to produce than it is worth (even after the 1982 change from a 95 percent copper composition to 97.5 percent zinc), so the U.S. loses tens of millions of dollars a year minting them. The average American wastes about 12 hours counting and picking through a trough-full of useless zinc coins. 12 wasted from you short and valuable life; picking these fruitless pennies out of jars and whatever crevice you can find! Even the half-dollar, in today's money power, is worth approximately 10 cents!

A penny saved may be a penny earned, but it is about two seconds of income for an average American. Andy Warhol, a French writer, stated, “I hate PENNIES. I wish they’d stop making them altogether. I would never save them. I don’t have the time. I like to say in stores, ‘Oh forget it, keep those pennies. It makes my French wallet too heavy.’ (source: theparisreview.org) Further evidence even demonstrates that the National Association of Convenience Stores and Walgreens estimate that handling pennies adds 2 to 2.5 seconds per cash transaction. By eliminating pennies, one such business, Mike's Bikes, will save over $5K a year; rounding up to the customer's benefit, allowing them to share these savings with their customers. The worth of these copper-ish coins are rapidly shrinking; even the minimum wage pays more than they do. They are so worthless now that it doesn't even pay the California Minimum Wage of $8/hour to pick them up off the street. Pennies are useless forms of credit that only cause a waste of time, money, and space! Why do you think you see so many pennies cast away like rejects at the bottom of fountains? I doubt anyone would want them in the market we have functioning today!

Finally, I would like to discuss the topic of my third assertion.

The penny is a toxic material once it is freshly mined. Pennies are 3% copper, and 97% zinc and are primarily made from virgin ore. Making pennies from zinc means and copper means mining for those materials. Red Dog Mine, which is the largest zinc mine in the US, is by far the #1 polluter on the EPA's list, because of large quantities of heavy-metal and lead rich mining tailings. The process of refining both metals can release sulfur dioxide, lead and zinc into the environment. Although zinc is a useful material, used in galvanizing metal, building materials, and many products that we use every day. But it is crazy to move 50,000 tons of rock to get a thousand tonnes of zinc to make something that we barely use, that piles up in jars and bowls, and actually costs 1.79 cents to make. (source: treehugger.com) Red Dog Mine, the sole mine that is the central hub for pennies, has had problems with toxins entering the air as metal-laden dust, and metals leaching into the ground and water, prompting a lawsuit from communities downstream from its operations. The toxins that leak into streams and the air is also affecting wildlife native to Alaska; those innocent, poor animals! I am an environmentalist at heart; and a pang of guilt enters my heart knowing we are treating our land and animals this way, for what? The useless penny? This is absolutely outrageous and uncalled for on our part, and our governments part! It is time to take a stand!

In conclusion, Judge, after I have presented my given evidence, I strongly believe that the proposition side has won this debate. Pennies make zero CENTS! You'll be getting more bang for your buck if you join us, the proposition side, in the abolishment against pennies! Thank you for your time.

Hello everyone, my name is Zoe Rivera and I strongly believe that the penny should not be abolished and kept as remembrance for our dear nation! Losing a penny doesn't make CENTS! Now, I would like to proceed onto my three pivotal points.

1. Without the penny, prices for items would increase greatly.

2. Pennies are sentimental coins to Americans.

3. Charities will shut down, due to them getting their donations mainly from pennies.

I would first like to start by elaborating on my beginning point.

If the penny were to be banned permanently, the prices of daily items and delicious, nourishing food such as apples, pizza, or such would be rounded to the nearest nickel! For example, if a slice of nice, warm, juicy pepperoni pizza originally cost $1.97, the 7 there would be slapped up to precisely two dollars! Now, that may not seem like much, but all prices do contribute greatly to the final fund. In 2012, a number of Chipotle restaurants began rounding purchases to the nearest nickel to save time at the cash register! (source: huffingtonpost.com) This senseless nickel rounding, over a long-term duration, would lead to millions of Americans losing wads of dough! Inflation would soon follow. Pro-penny studies have also suggested that this trend would disproportionately affect younger and poorer Americans, who are more likely to pay in cash and for whom those cents are more significant. These are the less fortunate we are talking about; these poor souls barely have enough money to put food on the table! More than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of all Americans, live below the poverty line! There is someone right now in our surprisingly, highly developed country that is struggling to find and know where their next meal is coming from! If that's not ringing a bell in your mind Judge, then hear me out on this undeniable fact! A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in January found that only 34 percent of Americans are in favor of eliminating the penny, while 51 percent oppose it! That is the majority; it os already shown that the penny is a valuable part of the society and the U.S. mint itself. The idea of the rounding tax stems from a 2001 study from Pennsylvania State University economist Raymond Lombra, who found that the elimination of the penny could cost consumers about $600 million per year. Do you want your family to endure the suffrage that losing the penny could offer Judge? I strongly think not.

Secondly, I would like to expand on my next point.

Pennies hold sentimental value to many Americans. We are not prepared to face the loss that these worthy zinc coins have put on the shoulders of our society. A 2012 survey indicated that two-thirds, the largest majority I have seen while searching up my statistics online, of adults despise the idea of the penny being terminated. (source: www.wsj.com) Old and rare pennies are prized collectibles. According to a international survey, approximately 48% percent of Americans hold on to pennies due to the fact that our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, is on them. This lovable, bearded icon has borne his face on these zinc wonders since 1909! He is a valued and prestigious president who led the trend to abolish slavery and helped America get back on its two feet. Even the cost of creating this priceless, copper-ish coin, (it is only 2.5% copper) According to the Mint's latest annual report, the cost of producing the penny has actually gone down over the last three years, from 2.4 cents to 2 cents to 1.8 cents. The penny is one of the cheapest coins to produce, and Americans cherish and love it with all their heart! Would you really want to rip these priceless artifacts out of the lives of the majority of Americans, Judge?

I would now like to conclude by discussing my final point.

Pennies are the backbone of several dominating charities such as UNICEF and the Salvation Army. (source: banknate.us) On the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society celebrated the 1.5 billionth ($150 million) penny collect by school students across the country for the "Pennies for Patients" program. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society certainly recognizes that every penny literally counts. Indeed, the $150 million collected in the Pennies for Patients programs proves that pennies do add up to significant sums. With every life saved from blood cancer, their annual penny drives debunk the refuseers proving the penny's value. (source: pennies.org) These pennies may not seem to be the apple of people's eyes, Judge, but these pennies go a long way in treating children cancer patients and people of all ages! The penny is a life saving tool, even though it may seem to be flimsy! Further evidence shows that the World Wildlife Fund relies heavily on micro donations. Over a six year period, over $500,000 was donated to the World Wildlife Fund through Coinstar kiosks alone. "Every penny counts for an organization like ours and while individual donations through Constar may be small, they add up in a big way," says Terry Macko, vice president and chief marketing officer at World Wildlife Fund. Even those local restaurants and stores, such as Wendy's and several gas stations, are declaring that the penny is useful! A counting study conducted by the 7-11 convenience store chain found that one-third of all the money collected in store collection receptacles can be attributed to the penny. In 7-11's situation, it amounted to $1 million of the $3 million donated in one year. When many pennies are donated to the Salvation Army around the winter holidays, the organization will run a Red Kettle Campaign in which large amounts, sometimes over 5 million -- of pennies are collected from various communities. Now, I say with additional fury, the penny will never BE useless to anyone.

In conclusion Judge, I believe this is a firm argument as to why the opposition side has won this debate. Getting rid of the penny doesn't make any CENTS, don't you think? Thank you for your time.

Good day everyone, my name is Zoe Rivera, and I strongly believe that cigarettes should be illegal. Cigarettes bring you one step closer to death. Now, I would like to elaborate on my three key points.

1. Cigarettes are NOT the only source of revenue; there are plenty of others forms of income.

2. Cigarettes harm the environment greatly; both from building the tobacco farms and the planting of the crop itself.

3. Cigarettes/tobacco contribute greatly to poverty.

I would first like to advance onto my beginning point.

Cigarettes are obviously not the only source of revenue in our booming nation. According to the USA's Top Exports list, the number one export is machines, engines, and pumps. Following suite is medical and technical equipment. Nowhere on that list is the sheer production and construction of tobacco/cigarettes. (worldstopexports.com) Cigarette-producing companies actually have made numerous attempts to exploit or corrupt several institutions, such as sports organizations, fire-fighting bodies, and even Hollywood! The industries that I mentioned are OTHER sources of revenue; much more productive than the mass selling of tobacco-related death tools. It is even shown that cigarettes harm approximately 52% of miniature, pharmacy-focused shops. (source: alternet.org) These stores' sole purpose is to prevent the masses from cigarettes controlling their already short lives. Cigarettes are a cancer to society, economics, and social bonds; as well as it being one of the largest causes of the notorious disease itself.

The people who toil away for endless hours on tobacco farms for little pay do not need to continue to endure this suffrage. There are several other employment fields, such as medicine, mechanics, literature, fruit/vegetable producers, and countless others that tobacco pickers can flock to.

In the USA, the bond between the tobacco industry and the tobacco farmer finally is beginning to break down, and partnerships are developing between the farmers and the public health community. Even the producers of this mortal product despise it; isn't that proof enough Judge? The useless conjecture about cigarettes being one of the top 5 prime exports our country has to offer cannot stand out more than this; the plight of the farmers themselves.

Next, I would like to move on to my second key assertion.

Cigarettes truly degenerate the majestic state of our environment. The harmful impact of the tobacco industry on deforestation, climate change, litter, and forest fires is enormous and growing. Many chunks of savannah woodlands are lost every year to deforestation; to clear plots to produce cigarettes, and from massive pesticide usage. An estimated 200,000 hectares of forests and woodlands are cut down each year because of tobacco farming. (source: who.int) Not only does the construction of the tobacco farms detrimental to the acres of gorgeous trees, plains, and reeds coating the valleys; the crop itself causes much chemical and physical harm to the environment.

The manufacturing of tobacco products produces an immense amount of waste. In 1995, the global tobacco industry produced an estimated 2.3 billion kilograms of manufacturing waste and 209 million kilograms of chemical waste. (source: who.int) In addition, tobacco, more than other food and cash crops, depletes soil of nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Once tobacco grows in a colossal plot, similar to how most farmers plant the crop, hardly any other autotroph can grow there.

And it this uneventful torture of our environment, aquatic and land animals, and own kind does not cease there, Judge! The cigarettes, the wrapped product of tobacco, is a major issues itself, leaving death in its wake. According to data from the United States Fire Administration, the careless disposal of cigarettes is the first or second-leading cause of fire-related deaths every year in the USA. (source: tobaccoatlas.org) This cannot be tolerated; tobacco destroys and disrupts everything in its trail, the cigarettes (the topic we are concentrating on) more deadly than the first stage, raw tobacco. I absolutely do not want cigarettes poisoning and reducing my nation to dust; I would recommend you join me as well, Judge.

Lastly, I would like to expand on my third point.

Cigarettes and poverty are inextricably linked. Many studies have shown that in the poorest households in some low-income households as much as 10% of total household expenditure is on tobacco, therefore, there is less money to spend on basic items such as food, education and health care. In addition to its direct health effects, tobacco leads to malnutrition, increased health care costs and premature death. It also contributes to a higher illiteracy rate, since money that could have been used for education is spent on tobacco instead. (source: globalissues.org) Cigarettes are gateways and tickets straight into the heart of poverty. John Madley also notes in his book, Big Business Poor People, that heavy advertising of tobacco by Transnational Corporations (TNCs) can 'convince the poor to smoke more'. Now, the curse that cigarettes wrought upon mankind is not limited to the poor; the rich and moderately wealthy suffer from this as well. Tobacco is not a way to heave you out of poverty; it only stoops you down lower.

In conclusion, Judge, after hearing the true, realistic nature of these tobacco-wrapped tools, do you genuinely still believe that this ban is petty? Cigarettes are not an efficient way to improve our country's health, productivity, and society.

Now ask yourself this question:

Are we putting the price tag on cigarettes, or are they pricing US?

It is with this speech, that I strongly believe the proposition side has won this argument. Thank you for your time.

Hello everyone, my name is Zoe Rivera and I strongly believe that cigarettes, (I remind you, cigarettes, not the concept of smoking) should not be illegal. I would like to start by confirming my three key points.

1. Cigarettes are a great source for government revenue.

2. Many citizens toil away at tobacco farms; banning the cigarette means destroying these people's only means of income.

3. Banning the cigarette is a violation against people's free will to smoke; disrupting our concept of a democracy.

Now, I would like to expand on my first point.

Cigarettes are a great source for government revenue. Think about it; cigarettes are sold at those Mom and Pop shops down the street, including public places at the mall.

Forcing cigarettes to be shunned from society is practically closing down these businesses for good. A 2005 study based on the California Tobacco Survey found that 82 percent of adolescent ever smokers obtained their cigarettes from gas stations and local, small, corner-street stores a few blocks away from their abodes. (source: bostonglobe.com) Although it may seem to be obvious that gas stations receive their revenue from oil distribution, more than 60 percent of cigarette sales take place there, according to Euromonitor International, a consumer research group.(source: usatoday.com) Banning cigarettes is shattering their business profits into several small pieces. Gas stations going out of business contributes to hundreds, even thousands of people losing their simplistic, oil pumping jobs. If we passed this cigarette ban, I would not want to carry the weighted guilt of knowing that I cost innocent civilians their means of payment.

Cigarettes may seem detrimental to the health of civilians, but at the cost of causing businesses to go bankrupt, and people to lose their living? Before the proposition side brings up the fact of smoking being a stressor against healthiness, the concept we are focusing around is the cigarette itself. NOT, I repeated with added fury, NOT the smoking part itself. In 2007, states collected more than $19 billion in cigarette taxes, and Maryland, which doubled its tax to $2 in January, was one of 10 states that voted last year to increase those collections. (source: NYtimes.com) The government itself collected over 7 billion dollars in July, 2014. According to Mr. Modi’s calculations, federal taxes on menthol cigarettes alone could purchase five B-2 bombers or 22 F-22 Raptor aircraft or pay one year of health insurance for 682,727 Americans. That is a boat load of cash people, would you really want to flush this down the drain and ruin the lives of innocent American people?

Next, I will elaborate on my second point.

Banning or getting rid of cigarettes permanently will put people who work on tobacco farms out of the grid for good. Loss of tobacco-related jobs and income will affect hundreds of communities, both rural and urban, that rely on tobacco for part of their economic base. Most communities where tobacco is grown and manufactured will make the transition to a smaller tobacco industry with little difficulty. However, a number of counties, mostly in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia, depend on tobacco for a significant share of local income. These counties have generated relatively few economic alternatives to tobacco. Would you want these states to lose, realistically, their main source of income? I think not.

There are approximately 90,000 farms that grow tobacco leaf. Tobacco products are also an important source of tax revenue for federal, state, and local governments. (source: ers.usda.gov) North Carolina is the largest producer of tobacco, with around 1,800 tobacco farms employing 30,000 workers, yielding in 400 million pounds of the crop annually. Depriving 30,000 American civilians of their tobacco picking jobs is what this, embargoing the production of cigarettes, will do. Let these people keep their jobs, Judge. It is there only means of survival, due to over half of these people being immigrants from Mexico and South American countries. (source: www.who.nit)

Finally, I shall discuss my third point.

Banning the cigarette is basically telling people what they can or must not do. Our country is a presidential democracy, isn't it? Freedom for all people. Our citizens have free will, their own choice, to decide if they want to purchase cigarettes or not. The government is transforming this into an idea that they are 'doing this for the health of its dear citizens', Joe Nickelson, the husband of a smoker, stated. (source: cato.org)

The government is drifting away from its path of a fair and prosperous nation for all if it believes that snatching away our citizen's right to lawfully purchase tobacco is keeping it a 'fair game for everyone.'

It is with this evidence that I strongly believe that cigarettes should not be illegal. Thank you for your time.