Trillion Dollar Coin Resurfaces

[LawrenceChard]

The trillion-dollar coin is a concept that emerged during the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, as a proposed way to bypass any necessity for the United States Congress to raise the country's borrowing limit, through the minting of very high-value platinum coins.

The idea has recently re-surfaced as a potential legal way around the forthcoming crunch.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier Tuesday told lawmakers that her agency is likely to exhaust extraordinary measures to keep from defaulting on its debt if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by Oct. 18.

Trying to be helpful as ever, here is our take on a possible design, assuming an actual physical coin is minted:

If anyone tried to steal it, they would be taking a "Liberty"

😎

[LawrenceChard]

14 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

The trillion-dollar coin is a concept that emerged during the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, as a proposed way to bypass any necessity for the United States Congress to raise the country's borrowing limit, through the minting of very high-value platinum coins.

The idea has recently re-surfaced as a potential legal way around the forthcoming crunch.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier Tuesday told lawmakers that her agency is likely to exhaust extraordinary measures to keep from defaulting on its debt if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by Oct. 18.

Trying to be helpful as ever, here is our take on a possible design, assuming an actual physical coin is minted:

If anyone tried to steal it, they would be taking a "Liberty"

😎

When Doug, our (nearly) tame photographer created the above image, it seems he was having too much fun to stop, so:

With the comment:

Breaking News....Downing St cabinet meeting..."Whats a Bajillion?" Boris: "I dunno but it sounds big" Everybody: "Yeah lets do it"

😎

[Uksilverstackers]

They should make it out Californium not Platinum...

 

The element, particularly Californium 252, is also a valuable trading commodity. In fact, it’s considered as the most expensive chemical because each gram costs a cool $27 million!

 

Californium

 

 

 

 

[StackemHigh]

Stick another 000 on the end of that $1,000,000,000,000 and might be worth something!

 

[Martlet]

I was trying to work out if this is bonkers or genius.  I read that its technically plausible, though seems like pandora's box.  The more legit way to do it would be to sell the coin as a numismatic interest, since there arent many trillionaires around, do a $billion coin.  Sell a few hundred for $2bn a pop, ultimate collectors item.  

[motorbikez]

Why go to all the bother of minting a platinum coin, the Fed could just print a big trillion $ paper note, something they are good at perhaps with mickey mouse on it. Powell, Yellen & co love mickey mouse money.

Edited October 2, 2021 by motorbikez

[Martlet]

Just now, motorbikez said:

Why go to all the bother of minting a platinum coin, the Fed could just print a big trillion $ paper note, something they are good at perhaps with mickey mouse on it. Powell, Yellen & co love mickey mouse money.

You'd have to read the wiki or other sources for the detail, its a bit obscure. Its to do with the seperation of state and Fed and what the government can do. The Fed can and does issue notes, with rules.  The Treasury, that has the debt, and isnt allowed to issue notes but can issue coins. 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Martlet

[dikefalos]

36 minutes ago, motorbikez said:

Why go to all the bother of minting a platinum coin, the Fed could just print a big trillion $ paper note, something they are good at perhaps with mickey mouse on it. Powell, Yellen & co love mickey mouse money.

Printing a note, or minting a Gold coin is not allowed. It's legally allowed to mint a platinum coin with any denomination by the financial minister. Not sure if grading would raise it's value. But it never would be worthless, there is always a intrinsic value.🤣

 I would love a Bajillion coin bei @LawrenceChard, it could save the world. Germany tried that papermoney back in the 1920's, the outcome couple years later wasn't that great. 

 

 

[LawrenceChard]

15 hours ago, Uksilverstackers said:

They should make it out Californium not Platinum...

The element, particularly Californium 252, is also a valuable trading commodity. In fact, it’s considered as the most expensive chemical because each gram costs a cool $27 million!

Californium

 

It's OK if you're into heavy metal, but you wouldn't want to store it under your mattress or carry it around in your pocket.

[LawrenceChard]

18 minutes ago, dikefalos said:

Printing a note, or minting a Gold coin is not allowed. It's legally allowed to mint a platinum coin with any denomination by the financial minister. Not sure if grading would raise it's value. But it never would be worthless, there is always a intrinsic value.🤣

 I would love a Bajillion coin bei @LawrenceChard, it could save the world. Germany tried that papermoney back in the 1920's, the outcome couple years later wasn't that great. 

 

 

On the positve side, they would make great wallpaper! 😎

[Stu]

1 hour ago, motorbikez said:

Why go to all the bother of minting a platinum coin, the Fed could just print a big trillion $ paper note, something they are good at perhaps with mickey mouse on it. Powell, Yellen & co love mickey mouse money.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21145103
 

UK is not bad at it either

[dikefalos]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

On the positve side, they would make great wallpaper! 😎

That was a great way to save money. Woodchip wallpaper had more value and also made a pot of hot water richer, tastier and creamier than any emergency money stew. 

1923 they also had a one billion Mark coin. Not sure if there was something to buy with them, but they are much nicer than the time they were strucked. 

 

[LawrenceChard]

2 minutes ago, dikefalos said:

That was a great way to save money. Woodchip wallpaper had more value and also made a pot of hot water richer, tastier and creamier than any emergency money stew. 

1923 they also had a one billion Mark coin. Not sure if there was something to buy with them, but they are much nicer than the time they were strucked. 

 

I rather like the unintentional pun in their name "notgeld" translates as emergency money, but it sounds more like "not geld" (not gold). 😎

[dikefalos]

7 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I rather like the unintentional pun in their name "notgeld" translates as emergency money, but it sounds more like "not geld" (not gold). 😎

Geld means money. So they named it right. Not money. If they had made chocolate coins it would have been much more helpful. 

[sjhdesmond]

I read this thread last week and thought it was fascinating, if a far fetched gimmick. 

But then today this shows up on my news feed...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/15/the-case-for-minting-a-1tn-coin-to-deal-with-americas-debt-ceiling

 

 So is this actually a serious idea?

[dikefalos]

43 minutes ago, sjhdesmond said:

I read this thread last week and thought it was fascinating, if a far fetched gimmick. 

But then today this shows up on my news feed...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/15/the-case-for-minting-a-1tn-coin-to-deal-with-americas-debt-ceiling

 

 So is this actually a serious idea?

It seems like they don't mint it for now, but it is possible by law. They can mint in platinum whatever denomination they want.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/yellen-wont-support-minting-a-trillion-dollar-coin-2021-10%3famp

[Junior]

[trozau]

On 02/10/2021 at 06:03, dikefalos said:

That was a great way to save money. Woodchip wallpaper had more value and also made a pot of hot water richer, tastier and creamier than any emergency money stew. 

1923 they also had a one billion Mark coin. Not sure if there was something to buy with them, but they are much nicer than the time they were strucked. 

 

To put it in relatable context: by late November 1923, one US Dollar was equal to 4.21 trillion marks.