ABC
Can trillion-dollar coins save the economy?
While there are laws in place to regulate how much paper, gold, silver or copper currency can be circulated by the government, there is nothing so clearly stated when it comes to platinum. That door open, the Treasury could have the U.S. Mint melt and mold a few trillion dollars of it, then ship it over to the Federal Reserve for safekeeping until the time comes to pay the bills.
The more difficult part comes sometime after the decision is made to coin the platinum and before the Mint gets to work in sculpting the pieces.
At that point, the American people must decide whose face will adorn the trillion dollar trinket.
Blowback
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Only if Obama is on all of them.
Schadenfreude on January 4, 2013 at 1:52 PM
Uh, no. The difficult part is when you wake up one day and your savings are worthless.
Fezzik on January 4, 2013 at 1:54 PM
Gee, I thought these were news headlines, not recycled old stories retold again and again.
calbear on January 4, 2013 at 1:54 PM
Economic ignorance on display.
“What’s stag-flation?”
Meric1837 on January 4, 2013 at 1:54 PM
Just make two infinity coins and use one to pay for the other and our debts. Problems solved. /s
Logus on January 4, 2013 at 1:56 PM
This
Schadenfreude on January 4, 2013 at 1:57 PM
I bet that bho’s face will be on the coin and the words ‘Under God’ is NO where to be found!
L
letget on January 4, 2013 at 1:58 PM
“Can I get change for a trillion? I gotta feed the meter.”
Akzed on January 4, 2013 at 1:58 PM
Why platinum? Gold has more value. If they want cheap why not rhodium, palladium or even silver. It would be the face value of the coin not the metal worth right?
Dr. Frank Enstine on January 4, 2013 at 2:00 PM
The liberal media, notably HuffPo, has started bringing this story up again this week because they think Obama can use it to get around Congress and the debt ceiling problem. There looks to be the beginning of a semi-serious push in some quarters to get the administration to consider this as an option.
So in that sense, I guess it counts as news.
Doomberg on January 4, 2013 at 2:01 PM
This is the reasoning behind the constitutionality claim for a PLATINUM coin:
But, Article I, Section 8 states:
So, I don’t see how Obama could order the Treasury to – or the Treasury on its own could – coin its own money just because it is made of platinum rather than copper, gold or silver. The COTUS doesn’t specify what material the Congress may use to coin money.
This sounds to me about as constitutionally dubious as the Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment argument that the Left makes wherein it is asserted that Obama has the power to go around Congress to pay the nation’s debts if they refuse to raise the debt ceiling. That is likewise untrue. Since Section 5, specifically, states that only “Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this [Amendment].”
Resist We Much on January 4, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Why not Ft. Knox?
Or is giving the Federal Reserve a $1T in platinum the whole point…?
Akzed on January 4, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Yeah, the coin could be made of steel, it doesn’t matter. It’s make believe money. Even gold is make believe money because when a country goes on the gold standard they set the value of the currency to an oz of gold by fiat. The only real currency is your time and how much it is valued.
crosspatch on January 4, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Thankfully, we would be spared that indignity. Only the visages of dead people can be put on money.
Resist We Much on January 4, 2013 at 2:03 PM
If you have BHO’s face on the coin, isn’t the phrase “Under God” redundant? /s
DRayRaven on January 4, 2013 at 2:04 PM
This would totally work if you don’t think about it and just blindly rush ahead. We could just mint money and put it in the bank, and then we would all be like, money….
I weep at how far not only this country but humanity as a whole has fallen in the last 6-8 years.
Gatsu on January 4, 2013 at 2:04 PM
Because the executive only has the legal authority to mint platinum coins in any denomination and quantity in the discretion of the treasury secretary (regardless of the metal value of the platinum in the coin):
They do not have similar authority for copper or gold; coins with those metals are limited to specific denominations.
jd3181 on January 4, 2013 at 2:05 PM
The reason for platinum is because the Secretary of the Treasury has discretion to mint platinum coins for the US Mint’s numismatic platinum eagle program, where one ounce proof platinum coins are sold in small numbers to coin collectors. I don’t think the Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to do this with any other coin, be it clad, gold, or silver.
If you’re interested you can see the sales page for the coin here: http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=10114&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10191&top_category=10191
Minting a trillion dollar platinum coin would of course be a grotesque violation of the spirit of the legislation, but when has that ever stopped Obama or the government?
Doomberg on January 4, 2013 at 2:05 PM
If they sent it to Fort Knox, somebody might find out that there’s no gold in dem thar hills. /
Resist We Much on January 4, 2013 at 2:05 PM
For what it’s worth, “The Congress shall have Power… To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof…”
Plus see the Coinage Act of 1792. I mean, not that these documents have any force today, but still…
Akzed on January 4, 2013 at 2:07 PM
What if someone steals the platinum coins? Oh noes!!!!
Better to make them out of plutonium.
That way, the debt will automatically shrink due to decay.
Or Schroddinger coins that are contained in a hermetically sealed box. Or not.
Just don’t open that damn box.
connertown on January 4, 2013 at 2:08 PM
You might more correct than you may know? NO one has been allowed in Ft Knox for years if IIRC.
L
letget on January 4, 2013 at 2:08 PM
Yeah, I certainly agree that no court should reasonably permit a trillion dollar platinum coin minted without Congressional permission to survive a challenge. Unfortunately, the court has let a lot of stuff that’s borderline or outright unconstitutional slide.
Doomberg on January 4, 2013 at 2:10 PM
“What are they worth?!”
“Whatever we need them to be…”
“HA! GENIUS! PROMOTE THAT MAN!”
Gatsu on January 4, 2013 at 2:11 PM
I’m not a Ronulan, but I have to say I agree with them when they say Ft. Knox ought to be audited. It’s been about four decades since anyone last saw the gold if I remember correctly. Quite a few people are afraid we’ve leased or sold most of it off under the table.
Doomberg on January 4, 2013 at 2:13 PM
Are you implying that the Obama administration is somehow constrained by the Constitution?
peski on January 4, 2013 at 2:16 PM
Why not make ceramic coins? Or plastic?
That’s it!
Produce 25,000,000 plastic coins, each with a value of $1,000,000.
Plenty to pay off the Chinese, mail one to every citizen, and have a few $Billion/Trillion left over for union pensions and algae/solar/wind projects.
No more problems!
peski on January 4, 2013 at 2:21 PM
Yes, if it is made of unicorn Skittle poop.
steebo77 on January 4, 2013 at 2:22 PM
Alfred E. Newman. “What, Me Worry?”
Reverse side: Engraving of Bellevue mental hospital.
ironked on January 4, 2013 at 2:26 PM
I LOVE THIS PLAN! I’M EXCITED TO BE A PART OF IT! LET’S DO IT!
BigGator5 on January 4, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Better mint a couple hundred of ‘em, just in case. Biden can hold the spare ones for safe keeping.
JeremiahJohnson on January 4, 2013 at 2:31 PM
I’m not implying that he wouldn’t try; however, such a move would carry with it incredible risks. First, unlike the interstate commerce clause or even the Second Amendment with its inclusion of the word ‘militia,’ which the left claims means that the Founding Fathers did not intend for individuals to have the right to bear arms, Article I, Section 8 is very clear on the coinage of money. The matter would eventually be decided by the Supreme Court, which has, in fact, overturned Obama actions previously.
More importantly, the whole “banana republicanistic” nature of such an action would seriously undercut the bond market and the dollar, in general. It would make “full faith and credit of the United States” a joke. From what I understand, the coin would not be worth $1 trillion worth of platinum. It would merely be assigned that value. Once you get there, why not just go the Full Zimbabwe and issue $1 trillion commemorative Second Obama Inaugural Notes?
I should have put something like a ¼ or ½ symbol before my snark tag because I was only kind of/sort of kidding. Sadly.
Resist We Much on January 4, 2013 at 2:34 PM
If these trillion-dollar coins really are minted, at least the Chinese government will have fresh breath after devouring them.
steebo77 on January 4, 2013 at 2:37 PM
Sign the petition. Bring down the world.
BigGator5 on January 4, 2013 at 2:41 PM
If they keep floating this idea out there, I’m going to start thinking they’re serious.
Timin203 on January 4, 2013 at 2:42 PM
You are correct. It would be a one ounce platinum coin (a metal value of $1552 by today’s spot price) with a face value of $1T.
The US Mint still produces gold and silver bullion coins for investors. A one ounce gold eagle has a face value of $50, but actually costs around $1700 presently. The one ounce silver eagle has a face value of $1, but sells for about $32-$33 currently.
So, if the government can produce coinage with face value of less than the true value of its metal content, it can also produce coinage with a face value exceeding the metal content.
Doomberg on January 4, 2013 at 2:47 PM
The solution, of course, is Unobtanium!
Kraken on January 4, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Civilization has always been a thin veneer over the barbarians we have always been. Our ‘betters’ have been rapidly stripping that veneer away the last 50 years.
chemman on January 4, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Every time I read about this trillion-dollar coin nonsense, I’m reminded of the brilliant Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash. In the near future, inflation has driven the value of money so low, that one of the main characters tries to buy a batch of Snow Crash in a drug sting, valued at 1.5 quadrillion dollars, and the junkies are all laughing at her for trying to pay for it with trillion-dollar bills.
The Schaef on January 4, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Resist me much, the problem with your argument is that Congress specifically authorizes the Treasury secretary to mint platinum coins of any denomination and quantity, in the discretion of the Treasury secretary. Here’s the actual text of the law:
“The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time.”
jd3181 on January 4, 2013 at 3:06 PM
RWM, on the “dead people” who’s to say that leftards are logical?
Schadenfreude on January 4, 2013 at 3:13 PM
For the coin to have a metal value of one trillion dollars, it would have to weigh 20,116 US tons, based on today’s value.
stefanite on January 4, 2013 at 3:44 PM
Lets hope none of them read “For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs” By Robert A. Heinlein.
Dr. Frank Enstine on January 4, 2013 at 3:51 PM
It doesn’t have to have a metal value of anything in particular. In fact, the mint already mints platinum coins with legal value bearing no relationship with the metal value. When the law says that the treasury can mint platinum coins in any denomination it wishes, it actually means what it says.
jd3181 on January 4, 2013 at 3:54 PM
All this crap is giving me a couple of barbaric urges all right.
trigon on January 4, 2013 at 3:54 PM
Or, Micky Mouse.
trigon on January 4, 2013 at 3:57 PM
Awesome plan. I hope they do this on the same day that they attempt to ban guns.
bitsy on January 4, 2013 at 4:09 PM
Only dead people get to be on coins. I vote for Karl Marx and Obama Sr. on this one.
bitsy on January 4, 2013 at 4:11 PM