Posted on 01/03/2013 4:36:21 PM PST by blam
Suddenly, Lots Of Influential People Are Talking About The Trillion Dollar Coin Idea To Save The Economy
Joe Weisenthal
Jan. 3, 2013, 4:42 PM
This is really thrilling.
An arcane idea that started on finance blogs in the summer of 2011-- that Tim Geithner should mint a trillion dollar platinum coin to avert the debt ceiling -- is now seriously taking off.
The premise of the idea is this: Although the Treasury can't just create money out of thin air to pay its bills, there is a technicality in the law that says the Treasury has special discretion to create platinum coins, and the thinking is that Tim Geithner could make the coin and walk it over to the Federal Reserve and deposit it in the Fed's account.
The first blog to really promote the idea was Cullen Roche's Pragmatic Capitalist. We jumped on it soon thereafter, as did others. Of course, once the debt ceiling was solved, people forgot about it.
But there's a new debt ceiling looming, and this time, LOTS more people are talking about it.
We noted our surprise back in early December that an actual 3rd party research firm brought up the idea.
Now it's going even more viral.
Paul Krugman discussed it yesterday.
In an interview with Capitol New York, Representative Jerry Nadler came out in favor of the solution (Nadler has an above-average understanding of economics in our experience).
Josh Barro at Bloomberg is now endorsing it, and that's spread a huge conversation about it among DC journalists and policy folks on twitter.
Barro explains why it's the perfect "solution" to the debt ceiling fiasco:
Hitting the debt ceiling isn't an option. It's no way to run the country, and Republicans know that. So, a debt-ceiling increase shouldn't count as a "concession,"
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Okay, lemme guess, it’s “Three-Year-Olds Run the Economy Day”?
We should mint a lot of them. If Congress continues spending like Obama is a drunken sailor, then we’re all going to need those trillion dollar coins - for bus fare.
The day the US Treasury prints a Trillion dollar coin, that will be the clearest signal yet to hoard gold, silver and ammunition, get rid of all paper assets, especially all Gov’t bonds, and make sure your loved ones are safe.
Because at that point, we will have become Zimbabwe.
May as well simply print trillion dollar bills, it’s economically just as valid an exercise. I suggest Groucho Marx for the bills portrait.
They stole that idea from the Simpsons. Monty Burns once had a Trillion Dollar bill.
No, we have the Fed to do that for us. sheesh.
Great idea. Just mint and give one to every man, woman and child in America. Then let the feds tax it at 50%. Feds have scads of cash and everyone is a multi-billionaire. Win-win for all ... what could go wrong?
Homer Simpson: “Here trilly, trilly, trilly....”
Obama’s picture on one side and a picture of the DNC’s mascot on the other side. That will work!
The government has built a house of cards on the perception of value in the paper dollar, and a platinum coin the size of a silver dollar has more weight than that house of cards can support.
Once Joe Average figures out that sixteen of 'em represent payment for the ENTIRE US government debt, the platinum will hit the fan.
On Obama spending like a drunken sailor....this is not true, drunken sailors spend their OWN money!
That would be too late. The day that it is suggested that "the US Treasury prints a Trillion dollar coin" ... isn't quite too late (nudge nudge).
This would not result in massive inflation, because we wouldn't have a gigantic injection of new money into "the system." That is only achievable through massive spending beyond which the economy can handle.
*cough*
These people are probably sitting around laughing their butts off. Why not? The American populace is stupid enough to believe it. Which makes them laugh even harder.
All they have to do is tell the MSM propaganda crew to go for it.
He'd probably drop it and lose it in a storm drain on the way over to the fed...
3 year olds playing 3 Card Monte
Not really too outlandish.
By the day Obama, Geithner and Bernanke are done it will take a Trillion Dollar coin to buy a used Ford Pinto.
The next day it will cost even more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.