Avoiding default: The trillion dollar platinum coin option?

While raising the US debt ceiling has not gotten as much attention — yet — as the risk of falling off the fiscal cliff, it soon will. …

So what to do? Analyst Chris Krueger at Guggenheim Securities’s Washington Research Group outlines four options. …

“4. Platinum Coin Option. This is even more theoretical than the Constitutional Option, though some argue that it is a stronger legal option. There are limits on how much paper money the U.S. can circulate and rules that govern coinage on gold, silver, and copper. BUT, the Treasury has broad discretion on coins made from platinum. The theory goes that the U.S. Mint would create a handful of trillion dollar (or more) platinum coins. The President would then order the coins deposited at the Fed, who would then put the coin (s) in the Treasury who now can pay all their bills and a default is removed from the equation. The effects on the currency market and inflation are unclear, to say the least. You would also likely trigger a wave of lawsuits similar to the Constitutional Option and create two tranches of treasuries. Both this option and the Constitutional Option are VERY low probability options”