There has been talk lately about minting a coin made of platinum and declaring it to be worth a trillion dollars. Obama could use it somehow when the next debt ceiling debate, though I'm not sure how that would work. It would apparently allow the gov't continue paying bills, essentially delaying reaching the debt limit.
Terrence Heath clears up the misconceptions the GOP is trying to spread (who'd a thunk?):
* It's illegal. Well, the law that gives the Treasury the right to mint coins and print paper money doesn't say anything about what values those coins should have.
* Grownups don't mint trillion dollar coins. Seriously? Grownups pay their bills and don't hold the economy hostage.
* Such a coin isn't popular with Americans. See the latest numbers on the popularity of Congress? They rank below cockroaches.
* There isn't a trillion dollar's worth of platinum. There isn't a penny's worth of copper in that coin either.
* It's an extreme and idiotic step. So is holding the economy hostage, crashing the USA credit rating, and denying seniors their Social Security checks.
The more interesting question is: Whose face do we put on that coin?
When I first heard this part of the discussion I immediately thought it should be Mark Twain. He had the right amount of skepticism of politicians and their idiotic ways. My second choice would be Will Rogers -- "A fool and his money are soon elected."
Garrett Burke, the guy who designed the state quarter for Calif., thinks the face should be that of Charles Ponzi, the originator of the Ponzi scheme.
And Terrence Heath puts in a bid for Ronald Reagan. It was under Reagan's guidance that the national debt began to balloon and set the groundwork for today's financial mess. That includes changing America from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation, reducing the share of productivity that workers get to keep (which drops their personal savings rate and increases overall household debt), convincing lawmakers that debt didn't matter (until today), removing restrictions on lenders that resulted in the S&L crisis of the 1980s and the housing crash in 2006, and increasing the concentration of wealth at the top. Which means Reagan is why a trillion dollar coin is needed.
Heath suggests Obama attach a chain to the coin and wear it around his neck at the next State of the Union speech.
Sigh. Greg Walden, GOP Rep. from Oregon, has introduced a bill to outlaw any trillion dollar coin.
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