When the cost of making money surpasses the cash value of said money, it seems an appropriate time to worry about the economy.

If we don't watch out, the combination of the declining value of the dollar and the rising value of metals could mean our thoughts won't be worth a plugged nickel, much less a penny.

According to wire reports, not only does it cost more than a penny to mint a penny, the cost of a nickel is more than 7½ cents. If we don't watch out, pretty soon our two bits might only be worth just one. After that, it's only a short drop to a dime — if a buddy will spare one.

Based on up-to-date metal prices, the Associated Press reported, it cost 1.26 cents Tuesday to make a penny that is 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.

One might think copper, a prime target of local thieves lately, is the culprit in the surging price of a penny. But zinc prices have quadrupled in the past five years while copper has only tripled.

Ironically, even though we see the penny as our nation's copper coin, it's the nickel that most reflects increases in that metal's value. The nickel is 75 percent copper.

Actually, the U.S. Mint says the cost of coins is down from year-end when the price of a penny was 1.67 cents and the nickel was costing nearly a dime.

Congress is considering penny-pinching legislation that would direct the Treasury secretary to put forth some ideas on how to cut the costs of creating small change.

A House bill now under consideration is drawing some resistance from the White House since, after all, the Treasury Department is an executive branch. The Constitution delegates the power to "to coin money (and) regulate the value thereof" to Congress, however, meaning that this whole issue could get complicated.

Considering that the U.S. Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies and 1.2 billion nickels in 2007, the inflated costs of creating them was probably significant in the average taxpayer's eyes.

So let's hope Congress and the White House can come up with a mutually agreeable solution. Because stamping out coins that cost more than they are worth really seems to give a whole new meaning to the expression "chump change."