a penny for your thoughts

This post can go lots of different directions. I feel that to be politically correct, I need to acknowledge all of the directions. First, I could talk about the economic efficiency of dropping the penny from our currency. I, however, don't really want that to happen, since I once bought a pair of jeans at Nordstrom Rack for a penny (yes, totally not kidding. I saved the receipt) and a pair of dog boots for a penny at PetSmart. I think we should just make the penny with something that costs less (beats me what. trash?) Or continue to allow 1 cent increments in this electronic-money world. Then I could bring in the "Take a penny, Leave a penny" philosophy that lots of stores have. It's a great little encouragement for human kindness. Once, a guy at an airport gave me a penny and I wasn't even purchasing anything. I think it works because (as mentioned above), a penny is pretty much useless, but the gesture of giving money voluntarily is still nice [with the ca...