James Poulos takes on the penny crisis:
The clear solution derived from these key points is not to eliminate the penny but to kill of the nickel and make pennies worth five cents. The penny is a far superior aesthetic and historical object than the nickel, which has lost even the mystique of being the only piece of American currency ever to bear a (bison’s) penis.
I’m all for the five-cent penny, but only in concert with the seven-cent nickel.