If I were Prime Minister: Episode 1

This is intended as the first installment of what will be recurring (albeit perhaps so infrequently that by the time it recurs you forgot it ever curred in the first place) feature in which I make random suggestions on untopical topics of what I would do, were I Prime Minister (although some of my suggestions may require true dictatorial powers as opposed to the merely quasi-dictatorial powers which the PM actually possesses).

Since this is the first installment, I'm going to start small, real small, with a riddle, in which I give three clues and you have to guess what everyday item I am talking about.

1. It's an item you accumulate without trying to.
2. People are always giving it to you, and although you'd prefer to just leave it behind, it would seem impolite, and just dropping it on the ground would be littering.
3. As a result, you carry this item around in the hopes of being able to pawn it off on someone else.



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What is it? It's the brown sheep in the silver family, the unwanted penny. And if I was Prime Minister, the penny would be the first casualty.

Thinking about how much everybody's time is worth and thinking about how much time each person spends giving, receiving and dealing with pennies each year, its time is up. Australia and New Zealand have abandoned theirs and it's time we did the same.

I mean, I find dealing with the $1 bills tedious in Monopoly, and that's a game where you can buy prime waterfront property for $400.

And it would certainly make these folks happy

Next time out on this feature, I promise to take on a more important topic, I just had to get the penny out of the way first.