My Two Cents

Pennies.  Not many individuals actually pay attention to them anymore, regardless of the adage attributed to Ben Franklin that “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Many individuals desire that the penny simply be eliminated, as noted in this past Atlantic piece penned by Matthew Yglesias titled Dump the Penny.

The relative discard for the penny also can be noted on a daily basis in just about every store, gas station, etcetera, across America.  “Need a penny?  Take a penny.”  When I pull up to the vacuums at the local carwash, I often note pennies lying around the multitude of vacuums, and being a Dutchman, I naturally pick them up, as I do with every discarded penny I spot.  My best one day take at the vacuums was fifty-seven cents ($0.57), and my actions lend credence to the joke, “Do you know how copper wire was invented?  Two Dutchmen fighting over a penny.”

Pennies do not seem to matter to people, unless some individual designs a program to sweep a penny, or pennies, from thousands of bank accounts and is able to accumulate a serious amount of cash, penny by penny, as noted in this story.

I think that this disregard for the penny has larger implications, and is indicative of individuals’ total, passive acceptance of taxation by the State, no matter how onerous said taxation is.

I bring this up, today, because of the following recent experience at a local gas station, which has happened to me more than once.

I go inside the gas station to purchase a couple of bottles of water at ninety-nine cents ($0.99) a piece, for a total purchase price of a buck ninety-eight ($1.98).  The cashier rings them up, I hand over two bucks ($2.00) and await my change of two cents ($0.02), which does not materialize.  My two bucks ($2.00) goes into the drawer, and the cashier bangs it shut.  I politely ask the cashier for my two cents ($0.02) change, and she looks at me as if I am crazy, and then reaches over to the “Need a penny? Take a penny.” container and hands me two cents ($0.02) with a smirk on her face, while the actual two cents ($0.02) she should be giving me in change remains in the till.

Many, if not most, individuals who would experience what I have related above would not think twice about the one or two pennies change due them, waving them off with a shrug, or tossing them into the “Need a penny?” Take a penny.” container so ubiquitous acrosss America today.

I think this careless attitude regarding one or two pennies in change, as described in my gas station experience, is writ large in Americans’ attitudes to the theft of their paychecks via taxation.  The State forcibly takes handfuls of pennies, adding up to a serious amount of dollars, and individuals may grumble a bit about this, but they mostly accept it without complaint.  And then when they go to the bank to cash their paycheck, and are due X amount of dollars and let’s say three cents ($0.03), the three cents ($0.03) is casually tossed on the floor of their car, on the street, or what have you.  Ho, hum, pennies.

As for myself, I want my two cents ($0.02).  What about you?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/24 at 09:32 AM

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