Greetings, R NorthEast--

(Sorry, couldn't resist. I grew up and live in the NE US, so whenever I see those two initials together... I r northeast, too.)

When Bill Cosby was co-starring in "I Spy" (an espionage comedy/action series, for Justin and any other young person), he reported that, since they filmed on location all over the world, he routinely returned to the States with pockets full of "little brown coins" from whatever nation they had been in. He said that, taking taxis, he would pull out a handful of mysterious change, hold it out in his palm to the cabbie and say, "Please don't hurt me."

If we have no pennies, what will we feed into those penny-flattening machines at rest stops on the Interstates? ;)

Has Oklahoma no sales tax? How does one round something up to the nearest nickel if the sales tax is 6%, the way it is in Pennsylvania? If you tax it before the round-up, the state will have a fit! Or must everyone figure the price to be $??.?5 or $??.?0 with tax included?

No pennies will mean an end to the interesting arithmetic riddles involving two George Washingtons ($1 & $0.25) and two Abraham Lincolns ($5 & $0.01). :( 5 George Washingtons = 1 Abraham Lincoln, but 25 A. Lincolns = 1 G. Washington, except when 100 A. Lincolns = 1 G. Washington, although 20 G. Washingtons = 1 A. Lincoln...

And if other nations have little brown coins and we have none, will this not result in the US falling behind in Little Brown Coin Production?? We cannot allow an LBC gap!

Gadzooks, man! The implications stagger (like a man going to the bank with a wheelbarrow full of pennies)!

Regards--
Mary Anne