American Currency and Coin
Back in the olden days—that would be
in the mid 60s, children—I worked in a Shell gas station in
Windsor, California for a man named Joe Woodard. I learned quite a
bit about being a man and about life from Joe Woodard, and I owe him
for that, but that's a story for another day. I also went to High
School in Healdsburg, California, and played football and trumpet,
had a girl friend, went to the county fair............ But what I'm
talking about here is the gas station.
We sold gasoline for somewhere in the
neighborhood of 35.9 cents a gallon. Could have been 25.9 cents a
gallon.....I just don't recall exactly. Point here is that it made
sense to charge something and 9/10ths of a cent for a gallon of gas.
Look—you could buy 10 gallons of gas, and that extra 1/10th
of a cent per gallon totaled up to a penny. American currency and
coin had not yet been completely decimated in value back then, and
that penny could be given to your young child, and that child could
go to Bob's Market Basket on the Old Redwood Highway and actually
purchase a piece of candy for that penny. Anybody got an idea what
you can buy for one cent American these days? Nothing. That thing
that costs one cent does not exist.
So, why, when gasoline is now $4.15 a
gallon here in the rust belt, does the actual price have to be
$4.149? What is the purpose of the 1/10th of a cent now?
Exactly, Grasshopper. There's no
longer a point to it. Just call it an even cent, OK?
No problem—Just ask me and I'll give
you a solution to your pressing problems.
This whole business of our less
valuable money brings about a recurring thought of mine. I know, I
know.....Here it is anyhow--Our money needs an overhaul.
We now have four actual coins in the
Realm—the penny, the nickel, the dime, and the quarter. There's a
couple of others that are, um, coined, but not really used—the half
dollar and the dollar coins. Then, we also have some paper money in
common use—the one dollar bill, the five dollar bill, the ten
dollar bill, the twenty dollar bill, the fifty dollar bill, and the
hundred dollar bill. There is another that is printed, but not
really used--the two dollar bill. There are some bigger bills too,
but, as before, not really used.
There is no longer a need for the
penny, the dime, the one dollar bill or the ten dollar bill. Just
not necessary. My biggest itch here is the penny, which is
worthless, and the one dollar bill, which crowds out the real money
in my wallet. Here's the fix. C'mon.....It's reasonable--
The new commonly used coins should be:
-The Two Cent Coin
-The Five Cent Coin (the nickel)
-The 25 Cent Coin (the quarter)
-The One Dollar Coin
-The Five Dollar Coin
The new commonly used bills should be:
-The Two Dollar BIll
-The Five Dollar Bill
-The Twenty Dollar Bill
-The Hundred Dollar Bill
As usual, you're welcome. Joe Woodard
would have approved. He was a sensible man.
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