http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/02/news/economy/California_IOUs/

Short-term thinking. It’s disastrous policy.

the scrip would not pay interest in most cases.

LOL. 2 year T-notes only pay 0.24% and 6 month T-bills pay 0.07% “interest” – both exceedingly NEGATIVE in terms of real interest rates. German notes had gone NEGATIVE in nominal rates … so I guess they weren’t “debt” since you had to PAY the German government to borrow money from you.

Debt is debt. Of course, this is all from the people who claimed that Greece forcing 60% haircuts on its debt-holders wasn’t “default” …. since it was “voluntary”.

When the language is gone, there is truly nothing left to civilization since there is nothing left to contracts which are the base and foundation of modern society.

To avoid any confusion with actual Treasury debt, and to be consistent with the law governing claims against the United States more generally, the scrip would not pay interest in most cases. And unlike debt, it would have no fixed maturity date but rather would become redeemable in cash only when the secretary of the Treasury was able to certify that there’s enough money available in the Treasury’s general fund to cover it.

This assumes that someone will actually accept that IOU for payment. My guess is that someone owed a lot of money by the government for services rendered receiving an IOU for payment might stop rendering service. That IOU doesn’t pay employees or put groceries on the table.

It would merely be a formal acknowledgment of a pre-existing monetary claim against the United States that the Treasury was not currently able to pay.

What the heck do you think “debt” is? And an IOU has nothing to do with whether one is “able to pay” but merely, like all debt, whether one is paying or taking the liability into the future.

These people think that questioning what the meaning of “is” is is the way to go. Idiots.

I don’t think I have properly embraced “Let It Burn”.

To rectify that, I am going to begin supporting and encouraging others to support the IOU idea, the Platinum coin idea, and anything else that comes along.

If we’re going to let it burn, then why not give it more heat/fuel/oxygen?

“Those are as good as money, sir. Those are IOUs.”

nicktjacob on January 10, 2013 at 1:49 PM

Go ahead and add it up, every cent’s accounted for. Look, see this? That’s a car. 275 thou. Might wanna hang onto that one.

I’ll gladly pay you later – maybe – for a subsidy today…

Logus on January 10, 2013 at 1:50 PM

Wimpy accounting?