Good for me, but bad for almost everyone else.

https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=CA&itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template

which is problematic because pennies are no longer being made.

Mercy!

Don’t pay and you are ‘kneecapped’. That is to say you lose property and can go to jail. We are free inside a red,?whote, and blue cage. The world’s trade routes and commodities are like turfs controlled by mafia families. Each family issues flags and slogans, family loyalty is known as patriotism. Humans have been accepting the scam since humans learned to kill each other. The collection of extorted monies mostly goes to the ruling dons, families, enforcers, blood relations, and assorted sycophants. Some of the revenue is put into social programs. Some revenues are given over to the serfs for mafia control and goodwill. Huge amounts are for wars against other turfs. If required, local rebellions are violently suppressed. Global turf wars see the young men of each flag scooped up and sent off to die for oil, minerals, water, trade routes, under cover of a manufactured patriotic ideology, supported by propagandist sloganeering. Psychology suggests one can cure insanity by making the deeply repressed life issues conscious, where they can be seen, understood, and released from the prison. Free at last free at last…..

All spending comes out of that same pot.

When the pot gets low, the government borrows more money, or prints more, to make sure that the post doesn't boil dry.