Brother, can you spare a dime -- for that nickel?

When something costs more than the benefit you'd get out of it, simple economics -- common sense, really -- says it wouldn't be a wise purchase.

What if you're talking about money itself?

When it costs two nickels to make one nickel, which it does in 2007, one has to wonder about the prudence of current currency policy.

So U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard is trying to change it.

He is sponsoring a Senate measure to allow the treasury secretary to more easily change the composition of coins, Allard said in a recent interview.

"The value of certain metals change considerably, so they like to be able to change that," he said. "To me, this is a common-sense bill."

Or did he mean common cents?

According to Allard's staff, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that changing the composition of our pennies and nickels would save the government more than $100 million a year. Allard's legislation also could lead to a savings of nearly $400 million a year by making similar changes to the dime, quarter and half dollar, according to an e-mail from Allard's press secretary.

As of August, it cost the U.S. 1.7 cents to make a penny and 10 cents to make a nickel, Allard said.

Pennies are made primarily of zinc and contain a copper-plated surface. Nickels are made up of an alloy of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel.

The world demand for those metals has increased the price of copper and nickel by 300 percent and zinc by more than 400 percent.

In Weld County, those prices have resulted in a spate of copper wire thefts. Some areas of the country have even reported thefts of catalytic converters from automobiles, as they contain platinum and other pricey metals.

Allard's bill would allow the Treasury to change coin composition to less expensive alternatives. Now, changes require an act of Congress. The measure now lingers in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy praised Allard's bill last month and said it would be good for taxpayers and Denver Mint employees.

Allard had the mint in mind when he crafted the bill, he said. But the mint isn't the only Colorado connection to currency.

"Colorado has always been very much involved in metal issues, as far as coins are concerned," Allard said. "You know Henry Moore Teller?"

Teller, for whom a Colorado county is named, was secretary of the Interior under President Chester A. Arthur and then a Republican, Silver Republican and Democratic senator from Colorado.

Teller advocated "bimetallism," a monetary standard in which the value of money can be expressed with gold or silver. Being from a silver-laden state with towns such as Silverton and Silverthorne, Teller thought silver should have equal heft with gold.

In 1892, Teller helped secure a declaration in support of bimetallism at the Republican National Convention. Four years later, he helped lead a revolt from the Republican platform and withdrew from the party, taking thousands of votes with him. He became a Silver Republican and briefly mounted a run for president on that ticket. Ultimately, he threw his support behind the Democrats, and he later switched parties. He never returned to the GOP, unlike other Silver Republicans.

We haven't had a silver nor a gold standard for currency since the end of the Great Depression, when President Franklin Roosevelt severed ties between paper money and gold bullion.

Maybe that's too bad -- since nickels are worth more because of their contents than for their stated value, perhaps it would be nice to have a silver or gold standard against which our currency could be measured. Maybe one day it would again be worth more than the euro.

Inside Politics is a weekly column about local and state politics. To suggest ideas for this space, contact reporter Rebecca Boyle at (970) 392-4415 or e-mail rboyle@fortcollinsnow.com.