abolish the penny

hear hear!

one reason I loved being in france pre-Euro, is that they NEVER used one-centime pieces.

Safire's wrong, however, that the Europeans don't have Euro-pennies, because they do. they're small, copper, and exceedingly annoying, especially because the europeans also have a two-cent coin.

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in other news, check out the rather depressing but very interesting series in the nytimes on life in las vegas (official residence of yours truly). if ever there were a case to be made that the transfer to a service economy is a mixed bag, and that capitalism can be awfully depressing sometimes, this would be it.