Why it's called $.02 worth

Have you ever wondered why it is called $.02 worth? When somebody says "it's only my 2 cents worth but..." why do they start off like that?

There are some histories out there that claim that this goes back to when pitching in $.02 was the ante for poker. Well, they are wrong.

$.02 worth comes from the fact that most people who publish opinion blogs on the internet and use google adsense get approximately $.02 per day. (I have yet to reach this threshold on this humble blog. I am currently grossing a mindblowing $.01. On a good day.)

Some general principles of economics state that people are paid in direct accord with the value of their contribution to society. I tend to agree with this statement. Therefore, thanks to google adsense, I can tell that I have added $.02 in value to society today. (today has been a banner day)

And my ex girlfriends called me worthless. Ha - now i can prove them wrong.

Assuming no growth in income or readership, and a 4% decrease in the value of money due to time and assuming 3% inflation (yielding an 7% discount rate), I can further tell that as it stands today my opinions on this blog will be worth $104.28 for all of eternity. And those are real dollars.

$.02 * 365 = $7.3
$7.3 / .07 = $104.28571428571428571428571428571 (round that down to .28, carry the four, I'm worth a hundred bucks!)

Now, all I have to do is live for eternity and I'll realize that.

So, what this definitively shows is that my opinions are not worthless. They have scant value, yes. But a complete lack of value, no. Well maybe the blog in general has value, I can't say that this post has a whole hell of a lot of merit. Significantly less than $.02 at any rate.