Ever since last year, when the Obama campaign really got into full swing, America has been talking about change. Two years ago, looking at the way our country was being run, everyone wanted some change in the White House.

Today, looking at the way our economy is going, everyone will be happy just to have some change in their own house, or to even have a house in the first place.

The point is, people want change. Which is itself a change, because in more prosperous economic times, people didn't like change. "Keep the change," you'd hear constantly, as busy shoppers decided not to bother with a few cents that would weigh down their wallets, purses, and pockets.

These days, everyone demands their change, and some people keep it all in their pockets until it becomes so heavy that their pants are halfway around their ankles. (Incidentally, this is why some people dressing to impress will wear their pants that way.)

Even in the good old days, there was one piece of change that has never been denied: the half-dollar. Even people who would refuse a handful of dimes and nickels would be hard-pressed to turn down a single half-dollar. In the past, I have written in favor of the half-dollar, and I continue to do so now. The half-dollar is the most physically satisfying piece of change you can carry, and any man with one in his wallet can rest assured that if he reaches into his pocket, he will find something big.

I still believe that the half-dollar is

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by far the most awesome American currency in circulation today and that we should support the continuance of the half-dollar by making use of them as frequently as possible. (Ideally, you should spend your half-dollars while flipping them up in the air with your thumb, wearing a pinstripe suit and asking people if they're celebrating now that Prohibition is over. )

To get back to my point, though, people today want change. And while being nickel and dimed was a bad thing a few years back, these days most people would be happy to be festooned with dimes, because they're saying the same thing they said at the Alamo: "No quarter." Money is tight, and people are pinching pennies so tightly that boogers are coming out of Abraham Lincoln's nose.

Pennies are weird, though. Even in today's economy, with jobs disappearing left and right, and most people in debt and underpaid, nobody cares about the penny. People still throw pennies away without a care, and someone is more likely to give you a penny for your thoughts than to give a thought for your pennies. This most despised piece of American currency was almost abolished before, and there was recently talk of Obama abolishing the penny.

Personally, I hope he doesn't, because I like that money is still left lying around where picking it up is good luck.

Today, while I was at the bank, I found a penny on the floor. As I was about to put it in my pocket, I stopped for a second. Anywhere else, whether a supermarket or an electronics store, if I found a random penny on the floor, I'd probably take it. But banks don't really sell things for money; they sell money. And if I were in an electronics store and found a random adapter on the floor, or was in a supermarket and found a random pack of gum on the floor, I'd put it back or bring it to the manager.

So if banks sell money, is finding a penny on the floor more like finding a penny in the supermarket or finding an adapter in an electronics store? I eventually took it, but if anyone from my bank notices they are a penny short, let me know and I'll give it back.

Seth Brown is the author of "Rhode Island Curiosities," the creator of GodToVerse.com and penny-wise and pound-foolish. His column appears weekly in the Transcript and weakly on his Web site, www.RisingPun.com.