Posted on 01/04/2013 7:50:49 AM PST by shove_it
With President Obama having kicked off debt ceiling negotiations by vowing not to negotiate over the debt ceiling, a new option for paying off the nation's considerable tab is gaining momentum with cheeky fiscal and monetary wonks. It goes like this: Should Congress fail to extend the U.S. debt limit - reached again on Dec. 31 - the president could ask the Treasury to begin printing trillion dollar coins (in a process explained mostly seriously by Jim Pethokoukis on his American Enterprise Institute blog), a number of which could then be put toward fulfilling debt obligations in the event new legislation stalls in Congress...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Maybe not this year. But maybe yes. Predicting exact time for market moves is very difficult
I like your optimism, but really I see no indication that the Repubs are going to take anything back in this lifetime.
They have gone WAY stupid.
If there were really were enough platinum mined since the beginning of time for the United States to be in possession of one trillion dollars worth of it at current prices, I’d say go ahead — that’s (almost) real money as defined in the Constitution.
But this is pure chicanery at every level, and is yet another example of the abject lawlessness of anybody who wants to pretend that it is in any way a legitimate, moral, and truly legal solution. (Oh, I see that Paul Krugman has given it his blessing. There’s a surprise, huh.) They might as well print it on a piece of paper as pretend that a symbolic 100-oz coin or two is worth a trillion dollars.
More Modern Monetary Theory.
They can take the opportunity to change the traditional “In God We Trust” to the new motto of our government: “Kick The Can Down The Road”.
A man gets a call from his broker about a great new deal that’s really going to “take off”. A small group have just discovered some very rare cans of sardines. If he act’s now they can be had for $100/can. He takes a chance and buys some. In a few weeks they go up to $1,000/can and then $5,000/can. Six months later these rare sardines are trading for $100,000/can. The cans change hands several times always with the price increasing. A wealthy entertainer finally decides to have a party and open one of the cans for his friends to taste. All are present at the gala when they roll the opener around the top and pull back the lid. They’re rotten! Completely rotten! The entertainer goes back to the fellow who sold them to him for $100,000 and complains. The seller’s response? Those were not “eating” sardines…they were “investing” sardines. It appears the government is trying to create a market for some “investing” sardines.
This story enrages me. I don’t know why this pushes my buttons more than other stories, but it does.
Fraud, enslavement and mockery.
Me too. Mocking it helps (for me).
Asked my two daughters if they could check with a coin manufacturing company if they would make each a coin equal to their respective mortgages and pay them off. Last I heard the coin could be made. Whoopeeeeeee! Got some other ideas.
So what do you buy with it?
The White House?
Congress?
Wait.... those things are already bought and paid for... nevermind!
A wonderful story. Thanks.
A wonderful story. Thanks.
Good point. Which is why i always correct anyone who says “our children/grandchildren are being saddled with debt”. At some point they can issue all the currency they want or just give all the Social Security geezers one of these special coins and call it even.
Better give China some of those before their military gets any stronger.
Of course not. Vending machine owners require you to deposit something of value.
Trillion dollar coins and unicorn manure will save the economy, but mostly unicorn manure. You just have to find some.
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