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Insane: Liberals Contemplate $1 Trillion Platinum Coin to "Solve" Debt Limit Issue
Townhall ^
| 12/08/2012
| Guy Benson
Posted on 12/08/2012 10:32:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Welcome to Zimbabwe. This is not a parody -- it is an actual report from the Washington Post:
Some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the “platinum coin option” is one way to defuse a crisis if Congress can’t or won’t lift the debt ceiling soon. At least in theory. The U.S. government is, after all, facing a real problem. The Treasury Department will hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit by next February at the latest. Unless Congress reaches an agreement to raise that borrowing limit, the government will no longer be able to borrow enough money to pay all its bills. Last year, Republicans in Congress resisted lifting the debt ceiling until the last minute — and then only in exchange for spending cuts. Panic ensued. So what happens if there’s another showdown this year? Enter the platinum coins. Thanks to an odd loophole in current law, the U.S. Treasury is technically allowed to mint as many coins made of platinum as it wants and can assign them whatever value it pleases. Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would produce (say) a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed then moves this money into Treasury’s accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $2 trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years — without needing to issue new debt. The ceiling is no longer an issue.
“I like it,” says Joseph Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “There’s nothing that’s obviously economically problematic about it.” In theory, this is much like having the central bank print money. But, says Gagnon, the U.S. government would simply be using the money to keep spending at existing levels, so it wouldn’t create any extra inflation. And if it did cause problems, the Fed could always counteract the effects by winding down some of its other programs to inject money into the economy. Is the platinum coin option really legal? Apparently so. It was discussed* during the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis by Jack Balkin, a law professor at Yale Law School. Under law, he noted, there’s a limit to how much paper money the United States can circulate at any one time, and there are rules that limit how many gold, silver and copper coins the Treasury can mint. But there’s no such limit when it comes to platinum coins.
I'm at a loss for words. I mean, you'd think that there's no way on earth the White House would even float anything like this, if only because of the massive political risk and insane optics. But I guess you never know; Obama did just ask Congress to relinquish all of its debt limit-related powers to him, after all. It's difficult to identify the most mind-blowing element of this article, but economist Joseph Gagnon's quote might take the cake. There's "nothing that's obviously economically problematic" about this absurd scheme? Printing, or rather minting, $2 trillion in magic money, overnight, to artificially "pay for" existing federal obligations isn't "economically problematic"? In that case, we should print $87 Trillion in special coins and retire all of our accrued debts and obligations in one fell swoop. I'm sure the massive devaluation of the dollar, inflationary spikes, and total loss of confidence among our creditors would work themselves out somehow. Thank goodness for experts.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 1trillion; coin; cookedthebooks; cultureofcorruption; currency; debtlimit; democrats; inflation; obama; obamascandals; platinum; platinumcoin; platinumcon
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To: null and void
To: SeekAndFind
To: null and void
To put things in perspective:
2010 Federal Budget had the gov’t spending $3.552 trillion dollars.
There are 8765 hours in a year:
$3.552 trillion / 8,765 hours = $405,210,571 per hour
That giant Australian Gold coin won’t even sustain our government for 10 minutes.
To: SeekAndFind
Ummm... satire, right? Please?
To: SeekAndFind
Goverment by college freshman stoner bull session.
25
posted on
12/08/2012 12:23:38 PM PST
by
Riley
(The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
To: SeekAndFind
This could be a plan, since they seemingly can get away without any limits and still claim it is legal.
For the first time, let me say that I hope they don’t put “In God we trust” on these coins, if they go ahead with it.
26
posted on
12/08/2012 12:26:39 PM PST
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
Comment #27 Removed by Moderator
To: SeekAndFind
Ayn Rand was a secular prophetess.
28
posted on
12/08/2012 12:32:57 PM PST
by
2ndDivisionVet
(I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's presidential run. What'll you do?)
To: SeekAndFind
Are we insane?
The people running this country are nuts.
Is this called “Gangnon Style” economics?
Nothing problematic about it?? Is he serious?? Even dummies should be able to see the problem with this.
29
posted on
12/08/2012 12:34:40 PM PST
by
GeronL
(http://asspos.blogspot.com)
To: Standing Wolf; The Looking Spoon; John Semmens
we wish this was satire
It’s dumber than anything we could have attributed to them
30
posted on
12/08/2012 12:38:16 PM PST
by
GeronL
(http://asspos.blogspot.com)
To: SeekAndFind
“Some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the platinum coin option is one way to defuse a crisis if Congress cant or wont lift the debt ceiling soon......”
They are due a refund from their schools for turning out defective products.
To: SeekAndFind
Congress, not the Bureau of the Mint, has the power “to coin money, and regulate the value thereof”.
32
posted on
12/08/2012 12:43:32 PM PST
by
Jim Noble
(Diseases desperate grown are by desperate appliance relieved or not at all.)
To: SeekAndFind
“Unless Congress reaches an agreement to raise that borrowing limit, the government will no longer be able to borrow enough money to pay all its bills. Last year, Republicans in Congress resisted lifting the debt ceiling until the last minute and then only in exchange for spending cuts.”
There you have it.
“We can’t pay our bills at our current spending rate, so we’ll just borro wmore money because it’s too hard to stop spending. Then we’ll spend MORE!”
Also, they believe it is possible to spend ten dollars when you only have three dollars in your pocket.
33
posted on
12/08/2012 12:47:38 PM PST
by
Darksheare
(Try my coffee, first one's free.....)
To: SeekAndFind
This would only work if they made it a bar or hundred out of gold pressed latinum!
Rule of Aquisition 102: Nature decays, but latinum is/lasts forever.
34
posted on
12/08/2012 12:50:06 PM PST
by
GraceG
To: SeekAndFind
This would only work if they made it a bar or hundred out of gold pressed latinum!
Rule of Aquisition 102: Nature decays, but latinum is/lasts forever.
35
posted on
12/08/2012 12:50:09 PM PST
by
GraceG
To: SeekAndFind
Why don't they make it out of something that truly reflects it's value? A steaming pile of sh**!
36
posted on
12/08/2012 12:52:14 PM PST
by
HeartlandOfAmerica
("We have prepared for the unbeliever, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran Sura 76:4)
To: SeekAndFind
Obama has been looking for a way to completely dynamite the US. Could this be it? His present methods are so labor intensive and require hard work to keep eating at the foundations of society. This could do it all at once.
37
posted on
12/08/2012 12:54:28 PM PST
by
Truth29
To: SeekAndFind
Wrong.
32150 TROY oz 14.940dwt in a metric tonne.
38
posted on
12/08/2012 12:54:28 PM PST
by
null and void
(Going Galt: The won't of the people)
To: SeekAndFind
Some platinum is more equal than other platinums. But so long as they can mint a coin out of platinum that is “worth” $1 trillion, they could print it on paper, too. After all, the melt value of the platinum (even if $60 million because it’s a ton) is negligible compared to the $1 trillion just like the burn-value of the paper would be.
39
posted on
12/08/2012 12:55:26 PM PST
by
coloradan
(The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
To: SeekAndFind
OK, just triple checked that this wasn't from the Onion.
I like it, says Joseph Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Theres nothing thats obviously economically problematic about it.
Then why stop there Mr. Gagnon? Make a $20 trillion coin, pay off the debt, and cancel all taxes for the next two years. After that, we just strike a $5 trillion coin annually and live like kings!
40
posted on
12/08/2012 12:56:58 PM PST
by
SampleMan
(Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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