Not too long ago it was announced that a penny costs more to produce than… a penny. The same goes for a nickel, and some other coins. Many different people have called for the abolition of pennies, and I have to say I agree. Some have said that everything but quarters should be gotten rid of as useless.
I have to admit that I agree with this in part. Making quarters the smallest piece of change would certainly make life easier for consumers. Of course it would also go great with our horrible education system, since so many people can’t handle simple math involving 100 minus whatever.
I actually would love to see the whole system taken one step further. If you have ever been to Canada, or several other countries you know that dollar and even two dollar coins are common. I could see getting rid of or minimizing the use of the dollar bill and going with the coins. Coins are smaller and are often far more useful because they can be used in more machines. The current dollar coins we have are, no doubt, the lamest thing ever created. Money was wasted on making sure the coins wouldn’t tarnish in use, which they of course immediately did.
Because of a lobbying effort by the people who make money (literally make it) congress guaranteed that the dollar bill wouldn’t be replaced, so this had an impact in its acceptance as well. Just one more case of an idea that was ruined.
Can’t we just do something right… for a change?
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