The Trillion Dollar Coin?

chris7375 · Jan 4, 2013

I will never claim I am an economics wiz because I am not. Though should we really be making a triliion dollar coin?

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...r-coins-the-ultimate-debt-ceiling-end-around/

myp · Jan 4, 2013

No one seriously wants to do it- it is just an interesting theoretical possibility and a silly loophole that should be closed. Here is an older thread on the same thing: http://www.politicalfray.com/showthread.php?t=3455

chris7375 · Jan 4, 2013

Wow I mean I wonder if they will do it. I think if the do they should give them to Americans for free

. If you need to merger the thread with yours I did not see the older thread.

myp · Jan 4, 2013

chris7375 said:
Wow I mean I wonder if they will do it. I think if the do they should give them to Americans for free . If you need to merger the thread with yours I did not see the older thread.

They aren't going to do it, nor should they. This is a clear loophole that was accidentally made. Doing so would throw off the balance of powers in government and with the Fed tremendously. And they wouldn't give it to Americans- it would be to pay off the debt, so first it would be deposited at the Fed probably. It is a very interesting theoretical idea- I suggest checking out some of the monetary theory blogs for more on that- abcnews doesn't do it justice

myp · Jan 4, 2013

A brief description of how the loophole could be used to avert a debt ceiling: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/why-we-must-go-off-the-platinum-coin-cliff.html

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

I don't think this would ever hold up in court. It's a clever legal argument, but clever legal arguments are only as good as the judge reviewing them. The practical hurdle is impossible to overcome.

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
I don't think this would ever hold up in court. It's a clever legal argument, but clever legal arguments are only as good as the judge reviewing them. The practical hurdle is impossible to overcome.

Also, any administration stupid enough to even try it.....should be ridiculed into submission.

Never gonna happen, fun to think about.

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
Also, any administration stupid enough to even try it.....should be ridiculed into submission.

Never gonna happen, fun to think about.

It's kind of scary that a president of the United States would actually talk about such a thing as if it was a serious possibility.

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
It's kind of scary that a president of the United States would actually talk about such a thing as if it was a serious possibility.

Agreed...good thing he didn't:

"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."

It is an opinion piece.

chris7375 · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
Agreed...good thing he didn't:

"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."

It is an opinion piece.

Though what would happen if they were to print them?

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

The currency would suffer, the administration would fail, and the world economy would become unstable....probably.

No one knows, anymore than we could imagine an 7 mile asteroid hitting Manhattan.

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
Agreed...good thing he didn't:
[/I]

It is an opinion piece.

I could have sworn I heard someplace that Obama said something like "no option is off the table" or something like that. Has he unequivocally come out against it, or is he hedging? If there is any hesitation in declaring this idea to be a non-starter, that is the scary thing I was referring to.

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
I could have sworn I heard someplace that Obama said something like "no option is off the table" or something like that. Has he unequivocally come out against it, or is he hedging? If there is any hesitation in declaring this idea to be a non-starter, that is the scary thing I was referring to.

Seriously...do you want this thread moved to the conspiracy forum?

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
Seriously...do you want this thread moved to the conspiracy forum?

I don't see how that relates. It seems like this is all being pretty openly discussed. I am a numismatist and have been aware of the trillion dollar coin theory for much longer than it has gone viral. I used to think it was a just a joke. Now, it seems pretty clear that the Democrats are latching onto this idea as a means of highlighting how unreasonable to Republicans are being in the debt ceiling debate. Will it ever happen? A reasonable person would say no, but I have to wonder if reason plays any part in our politics any more.

chris7375 · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
The currency would suffer, the administration would fail, and the world economy would become unstable....probably.

No one knows, anymore than we could imagine an 7 mile asteroid hitting Manhattan.

At that point you may want the 7 mile asteroid

.

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
I don't see how that relates. It seems like this is all being pretty openly discussed. I am a numismatist and have been aware of the trillion dollar coin theory for much longer than it has gone viral. I used to think it was a just a joke. Now, it seems pretty clear that the Democrats are latching onto this idea as a means of highlighting how unreasonable to Republicans are being in the debt ceiling debate. Will it ever happen? A reasonable person would say no, but I have to wonder if reason plays any part in our politics any more.

As you seem far more educated on this issue, I would like to see the Data that convinced you of the likely hood anyone has taken his seriously.

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

tecoyah said:
As you seem far more educated on this issue, I would like to see the Data that convinced you of the likely hood anyone has taken his seriously.

There was a Paul Krugman article about it, there have been dozens of articles about it. I'm afraid I can't say I appreciate your continued sarcasm.

myp · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
There was a Paul Krugman article about it, there have been dozens of articles about it. I'm afraid I can't say I appreciate your continued sarcasm.

The Krugman, etc. posts are all from a theoretical perspective- no serious analyst is suggesting it. It won't happen though- the political shock this would cause by throwing off the balance of power is something no one wants to take on their hands- especially considering, everyone knows this was a silly mistake by Congress in not realizing this loophole they made.

Cicero · Jan 5, 2013

myp said:
The Krugman, etc. posts are all from a theoretical perspective- no serious analyst is suggesting it. It won't happen though- the political shock this would cause by throwing off the balance of power is something no one wants to take on their hands- especially considering, everyone knows this was a silly mistake by Congress in not realizing this loophole they made.

Well maybe that's what I'm trying to say. I can't imagine that anybody takes this seriously. Why is a nobel laureate talking about this like it is in any way possible? It's just a joke, it's not even really a loophole because it would never actually work. It's against the law, if anybody actually tried it they would find that out pretty quickly.

tecoyah · Jan 5, 2013

Cicero said:
There was a Paul Krugman article about it, there have been dozens of articles about it. I'm afraid I can't say I appreciate your continued sarcasm.

I intended no sarcasm, I asked because I thought you might have further information.

The Trillion Dollar Coin?

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