Nickel For Your Thoughts?

The New York Times recently reported that due to rising zinc prices, the cost of manufacturing a penny has now risen to about 1.4 cents, giving impetus to the decades-old movement to abolish the penny. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Arizona) is resubmitting his 2002 bill to kill the penny and force all retailers to round to the nearest nickel. (Guess whose home state would benefit by the need to suddenly mine enough copper for several trillion nickels?) And as you'd expect, there is a counter-movement to save the penny. Bizarrely, their celebrity spokeman is Mr. Britney Spears. I guess K-Fed isn't interested in using his millions in the same ole tired way that other celebrities do. Cuz ya know, hunger and disease? That's so been done. I say we put both the penny and K-Fed out of our misery.