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it be fun to see the reemergence of the ever-endearing "wow" face of a 5 year old who finds something shiny and valuable enough to save and eventually spend?

I am not suggesting that this behavior will take on proportions of a grand scale. And, perhaps among middle class adults, very little indeed may change. But what of those others? The truly "have nots"? The ones for whom the relationship between work and pay is ever and constantly tangible. There is no "portfolio" or "financial planning". The money they have is the money they EARN period! Money doesn't actually earn money. Yet, for reasons beyond my understanding, this concept of an "economy" permits an INDIVIDUAL to "acquire" perhaps *billions* of dollars of wealth. Does he have billions of dollars worth of calluses on his hands? Billions of drops of sweat from day after day after day of HIS labor? No. Now, I love that there is the opportunity for the industrious and smart, and yes, the hard-working, to reach a point where he can enjoy the fruits of his efforts, and even a little luck, and not have to stay in survival mode to, well, to survive!

Money does for society now what language did and does for all communicating animals. It allows us to REPRESENT our thoughts and lives. We are indeed richer for having the ability to trade IDEAS as well as "stuff". So too, does money allow us to see beyond the immediate. We don't have to bring our horses and cattle and gold bullion everywhere we go just to get other stuff for it. How unthinkably laborious and unmanageable would that be?!

On the other hand, the penny seems BARELY less cumbersome than trading goods for goods, doesn't it? There again is another argument for giving our most junior mint a promotion, or at least a raise! I keep finding my mind, however, wandering back to the magical quality of just reassigning its value. It seems just too, too, superficial! It seems like a pandora's box. It's the unknown. It's the unfamiliar. Heck, we tried out the 2 dollar bill and decided we just plain didn't like it! Ahh.but it was still competing with its more flexible and functional ancestor! And, thankfully, there are still some things in this world that you can get for a dollar so that paper still makes sense.

Can the same be said for the penny? Maybe it will make more sense, if we make it worth well more cents!

Learn more about this author, Stanley W. Shura.
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