If you adjust for inflation, under the Lincoln administration, $1 was equal to $76 billion in today's dollars, just kidding... As I understand it, we could start making these again. I understand they are very valuable!
DAMN, someone already did - Collectors set to stampede banks for new buffalo nickel
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.
25% of the federal public debt ($41,500 of the $166,000) is owed to foreigners - that's the true burden of the debt. The rest is simply money some Americans owe to other Americans.
P.S. Is that a boy buffalo?