Nickel for your thoughts?

I found an interesting article on CNN today about a new bill in Congress to get rid of pennies:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/18/news/penny/index.htm

My first thought was "Oh great. More meaningless legislation". But then I got to thinking...Do we really need pennies? When was the last time that you ever bought something for a penny? (And don't say penny-candy, because nobody in history has ever bought just one piece). The whole purpose of having a penny is to get rid of it. Whether it's to save room in your purse, or to take to a Coin Star for "real money", you just want it to leave your possession.

Plus, when you read that it actually costs 1.4 cents to even make a single penny, it becomes that much more pointless.