Debt Ceiling 2013 has its own mini-meme: platinum coins. US law governs the circulation of paper money and gold, silver and copper coins 鈥� but not platinum coins. As such, the idea goes that the US Treasury could order up a couple of platinum coins, value them at $1 trillion, and deposit them at the Federal Reserve. The Fed could then transfer that value to the US Treasury, which could use the money to pay the government鈥檚 obligations.
Effectively, the move would use the Fed鈥檚 monetary powers to defuse Congress鈥檚 fiscal time bomb without, some say, inflationary issues related to printing money because the Fed is helping to continue current levels of spending, not fueling higher expenditures.
In the Twitterverse, the econo-dweeby set has even given this whimsical proposition its own hashtag: #MintTheCoin.
The downside? The president will have financed the budget of the United States with a massive gimmick that could face all sorts of legal challenges. If America鈥檚 credit rating took a ding from 2011鈥檚 debt-ceiling debacle, what would happen if the actual solution took the form of platinum coins?
The president has said it鈥檚 a no-go 鈥� could you imagine Obama flashing a couple of platinum coins at a press conference, making Boehner spit out his Cheerios in the Capitol? 鈥� but even the discussion has raised hackles among Republicans. Rep. Greg Walden (R) of Oregon introduced legislation to ban such a possibility.
鈥淐ongress has the responsibility and the sole authority to raise the debt ceiling,鈥� White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday, 鈥渁nd Congress must do it鈥檚 job.鈥�
