[...]you made running a blog glance[...]…

“Hey, let’s do away with small denominations of money.”

Is there a clearer sign that our currency is losing value?

Chubbs65 on February 15, 2013 at 12:59 PM

Exactly. I was looking at some early Peanuts comics, and sighed when I saw kids getting a penny’s worth of this or that at the candy store. There is no such thing now; a quarter’s worth of candy is the least you can buy from a machine.

25x inflation, kids hit the hardest, and there goes a little piece of Americana flying off with the angels.

Is there a clearer sign that our currency is losing value?

Do I get a ticket guaranteeing admission to Bishop’s bunker?

Washington Nearsider on February 15, 2013 at 10:03 AM

You get a sack of pennies.

Rather small sack, actually. And it’s mostly rocks.

Tax increases will have to be in increments of five cents instead of a penny. A sales tax increase can no longer be 1 cent on the dollar, it has to be at least 5 cents. That’s quite a increase, especially for large ticket items.

darwin on February 15, 2013 at 11:37 AM

How did you come to that conclusion? It’s only the final amount that is rounded and only if you pay in cash – which presumably you won’t for big ticket items anyway. So even if the retailer chooses to always round up, you’re still only out $0.04 max.

Tax increases will have to be in increments of five cents instead of a penny. A sales tax increase can no longer be 1 cent on the dollar, it has to be at least 5 cents. That’s quite a increase, especially for large ticket items.

darwin on February 15, 2013 at 11:37 AM

The $0.01 increment would still exist; your credit card or check would still pay to the $0.01 and your bank account would show that. That’s not changing.

The only effect this would have is if you were to show up at the store, pay in physical cash, and either have a total that ending in $0.03, $0.04, $0.08 and $0.09 – which would then be rounded up – or a total that end in $0.01, $0.02, $0.06 and $0.07 – which would be rounded down.

It has no effect whatsoever on the amount you pay, and leads to no increase in any cost anywhere. We know this because US military bases have banned pennies, and round up or down. Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, South Africa and a smattering of other countries have do this as well. There is no effect.

Better idea:

Keep the penny, ditch Obama.

The penny is actually worth something.

turfmann on February 15, 2013 at 9:56 AM

+1 Indeed