A Penny for My Thoughts About four years ago, I sat in front of a computer screen quietly chuckling to myself as I opened a financial news article with a headline describing what would be considered my “worst case scenario” a month prior. Mt.Gox, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, had filed for bankruptcy after a multi-million dollar hack, illegally drawing millions upon millions of dollars into the wallets of shady individuals. The price of bitcoin would fall dramatically over the next few weeks to a shadow of it’s former glory, but at this point I could not have cared less. Just three weeks before, I had chosen to end my single year of drone-like, nearly obsessive bitcoin mining, pooling, and trading and decided to cash out at …show more content…
Casual, joking lectures about Buffett’s investments and “American” capitalism became commonplace, and my impressionable mind seemed to overlook how a civil engineer could provide such sound analysis about market trends and consumer beliefs. Needless to say, my dream had begun to take root, surrounded by a slurry of half-baked investment advice and the looming, satirized visage of Warren Buffett. My “fascination” for material wealth however, in particular the process in acquiring it, manifested for the first time during a hot summer in Toronto as the entire fourth grade class became aware of the hottest new trend: Pokemon cards. I had no large interest in the cards, nor the arbitrary pieces of paper used to buy them. However: I did want to prove that I could make money like Mr. Jobs or Mr. Gates, the larger-than-life idols of my youth. Armed with construction paper, white glue, and a cadre of seven year old graphics artists, I began to take upon the momentous task of undercutting Pokemon’s market share by simply manufacturing my own knockoffs. And, in line with my capitalistic standards, we would sell them. We made 300 cards over a span of week and sold them for a nickel each to the primary school class, selling about 4/5ths of our inventory for a small fortune of twelve dollars, of which I took six. I felt a bit like Steve Jobs already, challenging the consumers themselves to seek something different. My Chinese-Canadian-American dream was coming to fruition.
Did you know the first penney the u.S. has ever seen was created and produced in the year 1857? The penny we know of has been in the states for 161 years. In the year 2012 there was a proposal that the United States get rid of the penny, the least valuable coin in the money system. The penny has so little value, but cost too much to make. Although the U.S. loses millions of dollars a year to the production of pennies, American pennies should not be ceased minting because of the risk of economic changes,the piece of culture they each possess and their “ power in numbers”.
The penny debate has been going on for many years. Many people want to get rid of the penny, but others want to keep the penny. We should keep the penny. The penny is a benefit in our society.
Barbara Ehrenreich's intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America exhibited how minimum wage isn't enough for Americans to get by on and that there's no hope for the lower class. Her main objective was achieved by living out the life of the "working poor". During the three cases studies she worked many jobs that are worked by many that are simply striving to live day to day. The jobs she had didn't generate sufficient income to avoid or help her rise out of poverty, in fact the six to seven dollar jobs made survival considerably difficult. Enitially, she believe the jobs didn't require any skill but while on her journey she started to realize they were stressful and drained a lot of energy. In addition to that she
Does money control today's society? The Younger family is an African American family in Chicago in the 1950s. The family lives in a small and ratty one window apartment. They are an “average” family who receives the proceeds from a $10,000 life insurance policy from the death of Walter Lee Sr. Everyone in the family has their own idea of what they want to do with the money, if it was up to one of them. The author's story setting is in the apartment surrounded by various conflicts, conversations and actions of the characters. The story line is only a couple of days, but in that time the author is able to show how poverty can have a negative effect on the Younger family.
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” to quote Benjamin Franklin. Unfortunately a penny saved is not worth a whole lot anymore. Like many other once useful things the penny has become obsolete. The production and use of the penny in the United States monetary system should be abolished.
A journalist who has Ph.D in biology wanted to know how people could live with just seven dollars per hour. In Nickel and Dimed, the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, introduces how people live with low-wage jobs. She told that employers sometime see their employees as potential criminal, their employees' work environments do not suit for their works, and the employees's wages does not satisfy what they need to survive.
Money is the crux of society. Without it, anarchy would break out. Bargaining would fail as people would claim the trade wasn’t fair, thievery would explode across the globe, lazy people would do nothing, and people wouldn’t have motivation to do anything but help their own family and selves. Yet, while everyone knows money is important, is ALL money important? For centuries, the penny has been part of American currency. And back in the day, it served a great purpose. Pennies could buy candies, breads, and many other things all on their own. But as time has changed, so has the value of the penny. As costs went up, the value of the penny went down. And with its lesser value, some people wonder if it’s even worth it to keep the penny around. But the answer to that little puzzle is as easily seen as a jigsaw meant for four years olds is put together. The penny must be kept.
In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich tells a powerful and gritty story of daily survival. Her tale transcends the gap that exists between rich and poor and relays a powerful accounting of the dark corners that lie somewhere beyond the popular portrayal of American prosperity. Throughout this book the reader will be intimately introduced to the world of the “working poor”, a place unfamiliar to the vast majority of affluent and middle-class Americans. What makes this world particularly real is the fact that we have all come across the hard-working hotel maid, store associate, or restaurant waitress but we hardly ever think of what their actual lives are like? We regularly dismiss these people as
Many people think we should remove the penny from the American currency, should we? In my opinion we should not get rid of the penny. Pennies tend to have a lot of sentimental value. Pennies also add up when in numbers. There's a risk that stores will not be fair in rounding.
Between 2001 and 2006, there has been an increase of .6 cents for the reproduction of the penny. This increase displays economic problems that may lead to fatal ones. The penny is composed of 2% copper and 98% zinc. These elements are exponentially in demand causing the price of these materials to skyrocket. Many Americans think the penny is putting our country in jeopardy with financial losses. This meaningless coin is losing money for the mint, and should be abolished.
Everybody in America has once had that shiny, copper, small penny jingling in their pockets. The smallest denomination in the U.S. worth only one cent, has been a part of this country for hundreds of years. This coinage has brought a significant effect on our strong American economy. But a problem has been brought up within the last couple decades on whether or not the penny shall be abolished or not. The penny has historical importance and is appreciated more than people believe pennies to be
When walking through the streets, have you noticed penny coins on the ground? If you did, did you wonder why? People today don’t find value in pennies, so when dropped, they don’t bother to pick them up. They degrade penny coins and want to eliminate the coins. Penny coins shouldn’t be eliminated because it has history and is valuable.
The United States has come to be known as a major world superpower throughout history. One of the main parts of America that has contributed to its renowned strength has been its economy. The United State’s economy has been growing ever since it began. Credit for its strength and progress in development can be attributed to the financial geniuses of their time. John D. Rockefeller became an economical giant during his time when he changed the face of business by developing ground-breaking new strategies to ensure financial success. Rockefeller dramatically changed the business field during The Gilded Age. He did so through the use of his social Darwinistic philosophy of capitalism, inclusion of vertical and horizontal integration,
How weird is the fact that making money costs money? Not only that, but in some cases, coins cost more to make than they’re economically worth! Due to this, many believe the penny should be out of production, as should the nickel, potentially. Others believe that the coin’s historical value, with it being similar to a heirloom in terms of age and personal value, should be enough to keep it in production. However, when considering how expensive manufacturing can get and how often the penny is used, it’s obvious getting rid of the penny is the best choice.
““The name of the game, moving money from your clients pocket to your pocket”, Mark stated. “But if you can make your clients money at the same time it’s advantageous to everyone, correct?” “No, Mark replied…Okay, first rule of Wall Street-nobody and I don’t care if you are Warren Buffet or Jimmy Buffet- knows if a stock is going up, down or sideways, least of all stock brokers. But we have to pretend we know.”” (8)