Did you ever read an article that was so convincing you wonder why you hadn't come to its stated viewpoint all along? I encountered such an article this week.

It was written by Ed Dolan, a writer in economics with a PhD from Yale. He tackled the problem of the U.S. cent from an economic viewpoint. His comments made perfect sense but what blew me away was the chart that illustrated his article.

His editor pointed out in the headline that this chart would help you decide whether we should "Get Along Without the Penny.." Granted he called it a penny instead of a cent throughout the article. But the gist of it was that the economic value of the cent is equivalent to what a quarter was in 1913, or a dime in 1947, or a nickel in 1973.

The economic value of the cent declines as our economy rises. And that is for the good in a productive vibrant society.

But consider, the cent is worth less today than the mill was in the depression years of the 1930s when the government refused to strike such a coin -- and states collecting sales tax had to issue their own mills -- tokens made of zinc, cardboard and plastic -- to collect that sales tax. (Later replaced by a bracket system to pay in full pennies.)

I could not find a better reason for the abolishment of the cent, irrespective of the fact it now costs 2.1 cents to strike each cent coin.

Check out this article and note well that chart:Can we Get Along Without the Penny? This Chart May Help you Decide(www.economonitor.com/dolanecon/2013/02/19/can-we-get-along
-without-the-penny-this-chart-may-help-you-decide/)