Steel pennies and belief systems

Maybe it's time that the U.S. Government skipped right to the chase and banned all coinage. They are fighting what seems like a never-ending battle to produce the stuff at a cost lower than the face value, more evidence of this provided today in this AP report:

Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 7 cents.

Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II, and maybe using steel for nickels, as well.

Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose subcommittee oversees the U.S. Mint.

Keeping the coin content means "contributing to our national debt by almost as much as the coin is worth," Gutierrez said.
...
The proposals are alternatives to what many consider a more pragmatic, but politically impossible solution to the penny problem: getting rid of the penny altogether.

"People still want pennies, which is why we're still making them," Moy said.

What is it with the penny? Why do people think that we need it?

Is it some sort of a linchpin in the American psyche where, if we get rid of the penny, all sorts of other uncomfortable questions arise?

Like, while on jury duty once, a conversation was struck with another prospective juror who was about half-way through reading the DaVinci code and he remarked, "This book shakes your entire belief system".

See Coinflation.com for more on the nation's money, no assistance can be provided for questions pertaining to religion.