I made a thread earlier in the BreakingAltNews forum and I wanted to make a new thread with a more SkunkWorks-esque slant on things.
Original Thread
Original Article
Essentially, the article quotes Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as saying that he would like to remove pennies from circulation. He also goes on to
state that this would not be "politically doable" at this time, but that it is something he would like to see done. The article further states that
it is more likely to change the composition of the penny to lower cost of production (pennies are currently minted with 97.5% zinc and 2.5%
copper).
However, since this is SkunkWorks, I would like to explore the potential effects of the removal of the penny (even though they make it seem like an
unlikely possibility).
When thinking about this article, I could not help but think of a No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament. In most poker tournaments, you generally
start with $1500 in chips. Let's assume that there are chips with values of $25, $50, and $100. Before the cards are dealt on every hand, two
players are forced to make "blind" bets, in order to ensure that there will be money in the pot. At designated intervals, these "blinds"
increase, stimulating more "action" and ensuring bigger pots. There is also something known as a "color change" that occurs at designated
intervals. This "color change" requires all players to exchange all of their $25 chips for $50 chips. This is also done to stimulate "action"
and ensure bigger pots.
Generally speaking, the players effected most by both the increasing blinds and color changes are the players with the least amount of chips (aka
short-stacks). They are forced to take more risks due to the dwindling value of their "stack".
This is somewhat analogous to the potential removal of pennies from circulation. Inflation/increased blinds causes the value of a penny/$25 chip to
decrease. Eventually, this leads to the removal of the penny/color change. I know this is not a completely accurate analogy, but I hope you can see
the correlation.
My question to you SkunkWork ATSers is this: Would the removal of the penny cause a major impact to the "short-stacks" of our fair country, as it
does in poker? And if yes, will this cause "short-stacks" to make "riskier plays" in order to survive? What might these "plays" be?
[edit on 29-2-2008 by kawz1]