Stop Making Cents

“I was disappointed to learn, recently, that the United States has created for itself a logistical problem so stupendously stupid, one cannot help wondering if it is wise to continue to allow this nation to supervise the design of its own holiday postage stamps, let alone preside over the administration of an extensive Interstate highway system or nuclear arsenal. It’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. I have come to think of it as the Perpetual Penny Paradox.” Caity Weaver gives you her two cents on the topic in NYT Magazine (Gift Article): America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny. “A conservative estimate holds that there are 240 billion pennies lying around the United States — about 724 for every man, woman and child there residing, and enough to hand two pennies to every bewildered human born since the dawn of man.”

+ Adding to that penny for your thoughts, allow me to drop this dime. “Three sisters from Ohio who inherited a dime kept in a bank vault for more than 40 years knew it had some value. But they had no idea just how much until just a few years ago. The extraordinarily rare coin, struck by the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in 1975, could bring more than $500,000.”