Just about every time I travel abroad I am reminded of how stupid our currency setup is here. I got back from Israel recently. The smallest denomination coin: 1 NIS (~US$0.26), the largest: 10 NIS (~$2.60). The smallest denomination bill: 20 NIS (~$5.20). Also, the bills are made of plastic, not paper.
We have a bizarre sentimental attachment to pennies and dollar bills here. It makes no fucking sense, and people get strangely paranoid when someone suggests getting rid of them. ("If we got rid of pennies, the poor making cash purchases would be screwed over by businesses!")
We should abolish the penny, the nickel, and the dollar bill, up the minting of $1 coins and add a $2 coin. We should at least switch the bill material to plastic, which is much longer lasting and possibly a bit harder for forgers to reproduce. Of course all these things make financial sense so there's a good chance Republicans are more opposed than Democrats, but the real blame on this lies with average citizens.
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