Long live the penny

Once again there is talk of eliminating the penny - the one cent piece. I don't think it will ever happen although presently it takes more than one cent each to make them (or so I've heard). That cost of the penny probably includes handling - part of my job. Also included is packaging and storage!

However, the cent is our unit coin. Everything can be measured in cents, though the cent mark is not even on the keyboard anymore! In case you were wondering the ¢ is alt+0162. I think the solution to our penny problem is to reformulate the cent. We need to make it lighter. And perhaps even thinner and of different metals.

Meanwhile, we could do away with the unpopular "nickel" - the five-cent piece. Perhaps we could move toward a smaller penny and a large "dime" - the ten-cent piece. And though it is popular, the "quarter" should be phased out in favor of a revamped half dollar (which practically no one uses these days!) , followed by the dollar coin. Perhaps we could even go to ten and twenty dollar pieces and do away with paper currency altogether! Anything needing "large bills" could be on debit and/or "smart" cards anyway. My reasoning in chosing these denominations has to do with the "simple math" involved with tens and twos. Almost everyone can divide and multiply by two, and the moving of the decimal point is child's play!

Paper currency is one of the most "diabolical" schemes ever devised! Nothing more than promisory notes, paper "money" has very little value of its own. A personal check serves the same purpose and the funds are actually "available" unless the check itself is bad (human error or fraud). Coinage used to represent real value (based on the weight of the coin and the value of the metals used). Now, however, so much money is spent on controlling the flow of the money that value-added "taxes" would quickly devalue the money anyway.

For instance, if we made a dollar coin with a dollar's worth of gold in it, we would already be working at a loss. The cost of production must be considered, and then other costs related to getting it into circulation would further devalue the coin. However, the coin will last for generations, while bills have a much shorter lifespan with additional costs incurred when they are finally destroyed.

Paper currency is a whole lot easier to counterfeit that coinage -- especially the bigger bills. If larger denominations were not even legal tender, then counterfeiters would be rare. Coin is harder to hide, and heavier to transport. It is hard to imagine the present drug trade operating with dollar coins instead of 100-dollar bills!

And so, long live the penny. And let's say good bye to "funny money" with all its expensive technology that is still being thrawthed by counterfeiters. If we must have "money," then let it be the following coins: zinc cent, nickel ten-cent, copper half-dollar, bronze dollar, silver ten-dollar, and gold twenty-dollar.