When it comes to the Most Important Political Topic Of Our Times™—namely the possible minting of a $1 trillion platinum coin—Ezra Klein advances the ball today. The idea behind this slow-news-week chimera is that the Treasury would mint the coin, deposit it at the Fed, and voila: the government has more money to spend even though we’ve hit the debt ceiling. Up to now, we’ve all argued about whether this is a good idea; whether it’s legal; and whether President Obama would ever consider this option in the first place1. But there’s always been another question rolling around in my head: would the Fed even accept the coin? If they won’t, the whole idea runs aground instantly.
Well, it turns out they wouldn’t: “Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit,” a Treasury spokesman told Ezra today.
So there you have it. Can we now please stop talking about this and find something else to chatter about next week?
1Answer: No, he wouldn’t. I mean, seriously, folks. This is Barack Obama we’re talking about here. Can you even imagine him buying into nutbaggery like this?
