Friday, July 29, 2011

One Word: Platinum

Jack Balkin wrote 3 ways Obama could bypass Congress. The first is real but kind of a joke, "Sovereign governments such as the United States can print new money. However, there’s a statutory limit to the amount of paper currency that can be in circulation at any one time. Ironically, there’s no similar limit on the amount of coinage. A little-known statute gives the secretary of the Treasury the authority to issue platinum coins in any denomination. So some commentators have suggested that the Treasury create two $1 trillion coins, deposit them in its account in the Federal Reserve and write checks on the proceeds."

Matthew Yglesias follows up a little, The Platinum Coin Option.


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