Time for a change in your change??????????

Ole' Pecoz, your humble servant, has been railing against the penny for years. To no avail I might add! I have written editors, congressmen, senators and would have even written my Mama, were she still alive. The penny serves no purpose, buys nothing, costs the U.S. Mint more to produce that the face value - but still we end up with a pocket full, a change jar full, a trash can full.... Why?

The most common argument I hear is that if we do away with the penny, the price of every item for sale in the country will be rounded up to the next nickel and cost more. That is so lame a conclusion as to barely deserve an answer - but I will answer it anyway. If the penny coin is removed from commercial arena, prices will remain exactly the same - to the penny. You don't think the Walmarts & Targets are going to give up the $9.89 or $12.99 prices do you? Gas stations still price to the 10th of a cent, when was the last time you had a 10th of a cent coin in your trousers? The total of all our purchases at the check out counter would be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. So at the very most, any impact would result in a two cent addition to our check out total on those $105.88 worth of groceries, products or whatever.

There is good news on the horizon however!! We are going to kill off a whole bunch of foolishness in the next few years, depending on how many prod our government into action. God knows, they ain't gonna do anything on their own hook, they got to see where the people are going before they can leap out in front and lead.

Here is what is going on now. The gold dollars are finally catching on across the country. In fact 3.25 billion were in circulation at the end of 2005 (opposed to 8 billion paper ones) and that was before the very popular Presidential Dollars were circulated. People are tired of all those crumpled ones filling their billfolds.

Quietly, the Two Dollar bill is making a comeback. In fact in 2005, 122 million were printed. That's twice as many as were produced in the preceding ten years! Folks like the coins, immigrants like the two dollar bills because they are accustomed to units of two in their native currencies around the world.

Okay, here's the drill. Picture us all carrying two dollar bills, one dollar coins, and no pennies. The two dollar bills would fit in existing cash registers where the one's used to reside. The slots would be for Twos, Fives, Tens & Twenties. The Gold dollar coins would fit in the cash register by moving all the coins to the left toward where the pennies used to reside. The coin troughs would be nickels, dimes, quarters and Gold dollars.

It would be Heaven on earth, no damned penny jars, no billfold full of crumpled, tired old one dollar bills! Think on it. If you like the idea, do like I do. When I cash a check at the bank I always ask for a roll or two of gold dollars and then I spend them! I am about to do the same thing with two dollar bills. Who knows, maybe if we all start this intelligent currency revolution --others will follow and even the blinkered donkeys inside the D.C. Beltway will get the message!

A penny saved is still worthless... (without a million friends)