Though the House was out this week, a Republican congressman announced plans to introduce a bill that would stop a proposal to mint pricey coins to pay the federal government’s bills.
“Some people are in denial about the need to reduce spending and balance the budget,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). “This scheme to mint trillion dollar platinum coins is absurd and dangerous, and would be laughable if the proponents weren’t so serious about it as a solution. I’m introducing a bill to stop it in its tracks.”
Recent reports have suggested that the U.S. Mint could create trillion dollar platinum coins, which would then be deposited into the Federal Reserve to be used to pay down the debt or avoid hitting the debt ceiling.
“There is specific statutory authority that says that the Federal Reserve can mint any non-gold or -silver coin in any denomination, so all you do is you tell the Federal Reserve to make a platinum coin for 1 trillion dollars, and then you deposit it in the Treasury account, and you pay your bills,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) told Capital New York.
“I’m being absolutely serious. It sounds silly but it’s absolutely legal,” Nadler continued. “And it would normally not be proper to consider such a thing, except when you’re faced with blackmail to destroy the country’s economy, you have to consider things.”
Walden wryly noted that, as a small-business owner since 1986, he and his wife “couldn’t just mint a coin to create more money out of thin air” when it came time to pay the bills.
“We sat down and figured out how to balance the books. That’s what Washington needs to do as well,” he said. “My bill will take the coin scheme off the table by disallowing the Treasury to mint platinum coins as a way to pay down the debt. We must reduce spending and get our fiscal house in order.”
That’s not what the statute says, but it’s close enough: the statute actually says that the Secretary of the Treasury (not the Federal Reserve) can strike legal tender platinum (not any other material or alloy) coins of arbitrarily large denominations without regard for the value of their metal content. Since it is legal tender, the Federal Reserve would have to accept it as valid for either cash deposit or repayment of bonds, thus either crediting the Treasury account with $1T in cash or freeing up $1T in room under the debt ceiling.
Actually, the statute refers only to bullion coins, which are priced at the value of the metal they contain, as well as proof coins , which are specially struck bullion coins for collectors.
The real question is, will the Fed agree to pay a trillion dollars for $1700 worth of platinum? I’m not sure it even can agree to pay that much, but it won’t, because doing so will abrogate its control over the money supply, and thus it’s power and reason to exist. If this farce ever comes to pass, the dollar as a currency is finished.
No coin becomes legal tender until the U.S. Mint is paid it’s face value. So the Treasury would have to pay the mint a trillion dollars before it could present the coin to the Fed as legal tender in that amount. The only way the Fed could do that would be to issue a trillion dollars worth of debt, which it can’t do because of the debt limit. The Treasury would net nothing in any event.
A farce, any way you play it.
R C Dean has already addressed this, but I’ll reiterate: there nothing in the law you cite that says these platinum coins may be minted as legal tender.
Why not make it a 50 trillion or 100 trillion dollar face value? That way we wouldn’t have to worry about the debt ceiling for a year or so. ///sarc///
You know, threatening to mint fake coins at the same time you have to send a Treadury nomination to the Senate strikes me as not exactly great timing.
I look forward to hearing what Barack Obama thinks about needed entitlement changes, as well as his views on the Democratic Senate passing a budget.
Paint it with auto primer and you can hide it in plain sight as a manhole cover……’>>……..
If the criminals ever get real control of the American military (many years away from that), and after they have implemented domestic gun control, they will tell the rest of the world to shove the debt up their asses.
17 aircraft carriers and a few thousand nukes will make that a reality.
You aren’t kidding yourself that they actually intend to pay it off, are you? Why else do you think they have zero concern for how much they spend. This silly kindergarten coin? Get real.
With a bag of coins the US can buy the entire planet gold reserve and pay the national debt. *sigh* You guys just don’t see the genius in it.
One may agree with this video, or disagree. Fact of the matter…a pretty good synopsis of what was, is and will be.
Here is Americas Progressive New Left Activist agenda on full display for anyone interested to view. View it and learn…facts are pernicious little things getting in the way of We The Elite People of culture of corruption in Washington DC’s lies, deceitful ways in one of the world’s largest criminal enterprises yet to grace this face of Our Lord’s Earth. It’s one hour long…but instructs We The People how fleecing of Americs “Great Unwashed” has progressed over the years. Pray. Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
A must view…learn what Our Government is doing to We The People.