Here’s something I never thought about before: It’s time to stop using pennies.
Aside from its actual subject — the uselessness of pennies — this video is also worth watching because it’s a terrific example of how to make an argument. It’s clear, it’s concise, and in four minutes and 31 seconds I went from not thinking about pennies to being completely convinced they should be eliminated. They fail as money.
And frankly, the nickel doesn’t look to good either. Let’s just drop the last digit from prices and be done with it.
(Hat tip: Alex Tabarrok)
We could do an even smarter thing and kill the Federal Reserve System.
But like most idiot humans, we’d rather treat the symptoms so that we don’t have to think about the disease; we do what’s easiest rather than what’s right.