It has come to Secret Squirrel's attention, that there has been a
rather intriguing and interesting solution proposed to solving the great
American debt crisis.Indeed it has been revealed, that there is another
course of action, other than simply printing up Treasury Certificates
for a required sum, presenting those to the Treasury Department, which
takes said stated certificates, places them away, and then prints up and
provides the stated sum the certificates are for, in short an
i.o.u. to oneself,one's own nation, which,never gets paid off,really in point of fact.
A
legal loophole allows the U.S. Treasury to mint platinum coins in
whatever denomination it chooses - even $1 trillion.Speaking to the
BBC's Today
program, Mr Roche, founder of Orcam Financial Group and
blogger at Pragmatic Capitalism, said the idea was being taken "somewhat
seriously" in Washington."I know it’s been spoken about at the White
House and a number of prominent people, including congressman, are
talking about it," he said.
Mr Roche said the idea was an "accounting
gimmick", but noted it was just "one really silly idea being used to
fight another silly idea".
"The idea of the US willingly
defaulting on debt is beyond crazy," he said."We started kicking the
idea around a year ago and it was really a joke and the fact it’s become
something sort of serious, well it’s a sad state of affairs that it’s
become so dysfunctional in Congress that this is something we’re having
to resort to."
Writing in his New York Times blog, economist Paul
Krugman, said that while he did not expect the Treasury to go ahead
with this "gimmick", there could be a case for it."This is all a gimmick
— but since the debt ceiling itself is crazy, allowing Congress to tell
the president to spend money then tell him that he can’t raise the
money he’s supposed to spend, there’s a pretty good case for using
whatever gimmicks come to hand," he said.
To mint or not to
mint,that is question,will they mint or won't they mint is another
question.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has the authority to
mint platinum coins in the denomination of his choosing, and experts
have said the
idea is being taken seriously in Washington.Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner (left with President Obama in Oct. 2010) could
mint a $1 trillion coin,said to be pondered to be an actual 1 ounce
Platinum coin,which would in actual fact be valued in
it's metal
content at about $1,600 thereabout roundabouts. And, of course,
intrinsicly valued at it's stamped value of 1 Trillion Dollars. We won't
consider here that in ancient times, a coin's value was appraised
upwards if and due to a very
fine etched stamping or whatever was
done to manufacture it.A White House petition advocating for the coin
has garnered more than 5,000 supporters.Minting such high-value coins to
pay the government's bills would allow President Obama to
sidestep a
showdown with Republicans over the federal debt ceiling.The proposal
would involve the Treasury minting the coin and depositing it into its
own account at the Federal Reserve, allowing the government to write
down or cancel $1 trillion
of its $16.4 trillion debt.On the other
hand, stamping say 17 or so would result in going past the zero debt
level to a surplus!!The mind boggles here pondering yet greater numbers
of these coins.Ever to poop a party, however,Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.)
said on Monday he will introduce a bill to prevent that maneuver.Walden,
it turns out, has written legislation that would bar the executive
branch from minting coins of any denomination. That would include the
much-talked-about trillion dollar coin.Walden stated,“My wife and I have
owned and operated a small business since 1986.
When it came
time to pay the bills, we couldn’t just mint a coin to create more money
out of thin air,” Walden said.Clearly there is much personal jealousy
in his words,directed at the government of the people of America
deligently trying to clear the national debt problem.BUT......take
careful note, that by introducing legislation to ban such a maneuver,
Walden is implicitly acknowledging that under current law, the trillion
dollar coin is a perfectly legal and workable way to get
around the
debt limit,and also as such, the actual entire national debt
problem.Interesting an actual solution to America's national debt and
there are politicians willing not to allow it,clearly these aren't lads
to invite to your parties, nor to allow to use your toilet,by no
means.So there you have it, a debt solution for all seasons, a debt
solution for all the right reasons. However,you know and I know,
politicians being what they are....they'll then spend all their time for
the
next century arguing over what designs should be stamped on the coin.
Secret Squirrel,
MRL,MP(Dunny On The Wold),
Minister For Re-Deranged Re-Engineering.
