On MSNBC’s Up With Chris Hayes this morning, the New England Mint debuted this deliciously self-aware two-minute commercial for a trillion-dollar tribute coin, in remembrance of no doubt our country’s foremost heated, hilarious, in-the-weeds argument over platinum-minted uber-currency. Long live the coin! source
The Treasury Department will not mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin to get around the debt ceiling. If they did, the Federal Reserve would not accept it.
That’s the bottom line of the statement that Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the Treasury Department, gave me today. ”Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit,” he said.
The inclusion of the Federal Reserve is significant. For the platinum coin idea to work, the Federal Reserve would have to treat it as a legal way for the Treasury Department to create currency. If they don’t believe it’s legal and would not credit the Treasury Department’s deposit, the platinum coin would be worthless.
Well they didn’t say anything about a platinum egg, right? So there’s still hope! (Note: Sarcasm.)
antigovernmentextremist says: Short Form Blog. I’m disappointed. I expected so much better from you. The fact that this is even considered a viable option shows just how far off the handle America is.
» SFB says: I’m not actually in favor of the platinum coin — it’s a weird, crazy idea that deserves the eyerolls it’s getting. I mocked it two nights ago, even. But if you’re going to talk about it, at least get the semantics right. You can be critical of something without misleading people. — Ernie @ SFB
Come on, Rep. Greg Walden. Your party has come up with far more entertaining crackpot ideas than the trillion-dollar coin, which many are dismissing out of hand for obvious reasons. Let folks like Krugman enjoy the ride, OK?! (BTW, I’m gonna call this the economist version of “but it might work for us.”)
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