They stopped making Pennies out of Copper here in the US back in 1982 because it was literally too expensive per Penny to mint them; now they're Zinc with a very thin copper plating.

Pennies made between 1909 and 1982 weigh in at 3.1g: 95% Copper; worth 2.5 Cents.
Pennies made after 1982 weigh in at 2.5g: 97.5% Zinc, 2.5% Copper; worth .45 Cents.

They started to lose Money on the minting of Pennies;
I feel that this is indicative of a deeper-rooted problem
than can be fixed by switching the composition of a Coin.

Pennies now are worth about a fifth of what they were just over Thirty years ago;
Yet they still represent the same integer of Currency.

The American Dollar has seen better days
The American Dollar seems on it's last legs.

Back in the day, money was fixed to mineral values,
but it seems now that Money is in the Eye of the Beholder, rather than the Hand of the Holder.