That provides a novel, if not entirely comprehensive, solution to the problem. The gov't wants to print more money, but printing money leads to inflation - that's the problem. Since Americans are so used to unchanging currency, when a limited-edition currency comes out there's a stampede to exchange old money for new ... but then a curious thing happens: the new limited-edition currency is hoarded. Result? the Feds get to print/mint more money with the benefit they seek, but that very money gets taken out of circulation by collectors en masse. Upshot? the benefits of printing money without the resulting inflation.
Maybe it's not enough to solve the debt problem, but it's plenty to fund someone's bureaucratic empire.
What I find funny is that the people who seem to have the least confidence in the U.S. economy are Americans. Our enemies make baseless accusations but their economies are usually in the toilet. In a way this is a good thing. No one should be more critical and self aware about the dollar than Americans. It is this almost paranoid awareness that makes the dollar so valuable.
An interesting case study in international economics is the Liberian dollar, L$. They used to run "limited time offer" commercial spots for the U.S. memorabilia coins and maybe they still do. It was the closest thing to legalized fraud that I've ever witnessed [besides casinos]. They were selling it to Americans at a price that far exceeded the value of a Liberian dollar. I can't tell you how much money they actually made by doing this because I don't know off hand, but this example is just one of TRILLIONS of indicators that the U.S. Dollar and all that we do with it, even the irresponsible things we do with it, when compared to the economies around the world, we are it! We are the people and place to invest, hands down. But we SHOULD be more responsible... Mr. President, prosecute all ENRONism! Crush corrupt accountants and executives, thanks!