Included in some change I received yesterday was a 2009 penny. I didn't realize until now that they changed the illustration on the back of the penny. Whereas all my life the back featured the Lincoln Memorial, this new penny depicts Abraham Lincoln standing in front of the Illinois state capitol building.
Upon doing some quick internet research, I learned that there are in fact four new pennies for 2009, each one with a different illustration of something Lincolnesque on the back, to commemorate his 200th birthday.
I can't help but wonder...is this entirely necessary? I mean, at a time when we're in a horrific recession, the country so terribly in debt we're using numbers to quantify it that I can't even comprehend anymore, does the government really need to be spending any resources at all redesigning our worthless coins? Because you know this must have cost something: commissioning the new artwork, changing the money-making machine at the mint, whatever. Couldn't that be better put to use for something we actually need?
I know, it's probably a drop in the bucket compared to any amount of money the government spends on anything important. Still though, we just got done with the 50 different quarters, one for each state. And the Sacagawea gold dollar coin...that was a real hit, wasn't it? Those flamed out quicker than Von Dutch trucker hats. And now we have four new pennies to marvel over? Are we supposed to collect them like a set of Transformers movie tie-in Happy Meal toys? Enough with the new coins!
And while I'm on the subject, what are we still doing using pennies anyway? You know how much a penny is worth? Nothing. You need a hundred of them just to make up a dollar, the value of which is rapidly approaching the penny. Let's just round everything up to the nearest five cents and do away with this unsightly copper coinage. Lincoln's already on the five dollar bill; he won't miss being on the penny. Plus, he's dead.
Happy birthday Abe!
No comments:
Post a Comment