A penny for your Thoughts

With the national debt in the tens of trillions of dollars, and next to nothing costing under a buck anymore, is there really a need for the penny? Remember the days of saving your pennies to get that candy bar or soda. Anymore, if you see a penny on the ground, the most that you do with it is kick it around for entertainment.

With Pennies costing more to create than they are worth, why keep them around. According to Coin Update News, the material to produce them has cost more than the face value since 2006, and it is now 2011. In January, 2011, the average cost per penny was $0.0179. That is nearly double. And you wonder why the nation is in so much debt. Pennies are costing us money. Don't you just wish that it was the other way around where once you were handed a penny, the value would double? Well keep wishing.

With the widespread and trending use of plastic, the use of coins is diminishing rapidly. It also doesn't help that the amount of goods available for some pocket change is getting even smaller. Getting rid of the penny would save money, and would get rid of the denomination altogether. It would bring everything to increments of 5, which could do a lot of good, and make things less complicated.

How many people tell the cashier at the register to keep the pennies. Or even better, how many cashier have told you not to worry about the extra three or four cents that your trying to find in your pocket or purse. It's seems like it is just a nuisance and not worth the time.

Just think about for a moment, what it would be like without one cent. Would it really be such a culture shock if we did without? Would it even be noticed, or missed? What would the economic consequences be? there are several questions that would arise with discontinuing the penny.

A penny for your thoughts, anyone?