Brits ask “A penny for your thoughts?” and Americans respond with “Just my two cents”. At current exchange rates ($1.00 = £0.80) this means Brits are receiving 1.6p of American thoughts for just 1p. In this paper we propose an alternative asset pricing model for the marketplace of ideas, considering—
@kate You might think that 1.6p of American thoughts for just 1p is beneficial but the quality of American thoughts are not what they used to be!
@kate A pence in 1535 (when the phrase was first use) sterling is worth 1.84 Pounds today ($2.94). A penny in 1797 (when it first existed) US currency is worth $2.46 today.
The thought inflation across the pond is only 1.2/1
@kate We discontinued the penny in Canada, so now no one is allowed to think or speak. Except to say sorry, of course.
@kate Americans openly admit that ideas are a dime a dozen, that's about 0.83 US cents / idea.
They're selling them for 2 cents each to the UK, 241% of the US market price?
@kate to paraphrase: "When a Brit emigrates to the USA, the average IQ of both countries goes up."
@kate Proposing our new currency Cryptothoughts, where every thought is fungible, because none of us have any original ideas anymore. Accepting seed investment now!
@kate @lisamelton Wait until I start selling Monopoly money on eBay to discover the effective exchange rate with USD $1
@kate it's obvious you're British. As an American I immediately started looking for arbitrage opportunities.
@kate I don't think this is worth my consideration.
Just my two ha'p'orth
ha'p'orth = halfpenny's worth = 1/480th of a pound.
@kate in Flanders we still use 'zijne Frank is gevallen' literally 'his frank fell' when someone finally gets it. So, given that's about 1/40 of a Euro, our ideas are worth about twice as much as American thoughts.
I think a more nuanced model could be composed if we consider the million dollar question.
@kate aI i have literrally been told "I will pay you cash to STFU"....sellers market apparently
@kate Hmmm, country that elected Donald Trump vs country that voted for Brexit. Who's ripping whom off in this marketplace of ideas?
@kate no worries! As we all know, financial markets are efficient and fair and arbitrage impossible. The exchange rate will quickly converge at 1 penny = 2 cents.
@kate Further research may be needed to assess the effect of Brits "putting in their two penn'orth".
@kate Germans sometimes say: "seinen senf dazugeben"- translated as "to add one's mustard." It means to offer one's unsolicited opinion or to interject in a conversation without being asked.
average mustard price: €5
@kate This was great and the thread delightful but...
Have you ever thought about incorporating blockchain into your currency exchange 😉
@kate My version of this quote is
Penny for your thoughts.
$5 if they're dirty.
Stop looking at me like you've seen me naked.
@kate now imagine if this applied to large language models and other “ai” companies compensating people for the words and artwork they stole. Overnight billion dollar industry. 
@kate What my parents used to call "penny candy" cost a dime for five candies when I was little, and now sells for ten cents each.
The inflation is not just around my waistline.
@kate I worked with a teacher at an alternative school who would make the joke, "If I asked a penny for your thoughts, and you gave me your two-cents worth, is that inflation?"
He was a trained negotiator (like learned from a diplomat who helped broker peace treaties) who was the teacher that would come in when someone was causing a disruption. He was built like a fireplug and looked, and could act, tough, but was one of the nicest, sweetest guys there.
@kate
If you'll allow this American, I will give you much more than that for your penny. We're quite good at foisting our thoughts on others, you know.
@kate given that a substantial proportion of people in the US voted for Trump, their thoughts are next to worthless, so the pricing seems generous