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Congressman Introduces Bill To Ban Minting of Trillion-Dollar Coin
Dainsanefh writes with news that the new Congress isn't wasting any time getting back to work. From the article: "Lawmakers are still positioning themselves for a debt ceiling fight in a few months, but one Republican congressman wants to snuff out a particular idea immediately: the U.S. Treasury minting $1 trillion platinum coins to avert a debt ceiling showdown. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) has introduced a bill to specifically ban President Barack Obama from minting the coins. The trillion-dollar coin has been previously discussed on Slashdot:"
It's a long way from introducing a bill to getting it through Congress and signed by the President.
“This scheme to mint trillion dollar platinum coins is absurd and dangerous, and would be laughable if the proponents weren’t so serious about it as a solution,” Walden said in a statement. “My bill will take the coin scheme off the table by disallowing the Treasury to mint platinum coins as a way to pay down the debt.”
I couldn't agree more, we need to reign in this insane spending. But, you know, I would like to know why Congressman Walden voted against limiting funding for the war in Afghanistan? Probably because he's actually for spending taxpayer money, increasing the debt and then trying to stick the president with the bill at the end of the night so he looks like a dumbass. Well, too bad, you're all equal dumbasses when it comes to fiscal policy. All of this is just childish. The Republicans made deals with the Democrats to spend spend spend on both sides and now they want to act like they've been trying to stop spending all along. And it's getting ridiculous. And Republicans have a brilliant plan to solve all the problems by blocking any legislation and flirting with a second recession? Burn in hell, you're just as responsible if not more responsible for the insane spending (you're still writing blank checks for one of dubya's religious crusades).
My work here is dung.
You know that war you're fighting? The one with no point or purpose?
Why don't you just stop?
Like, just pack it up. Leave. Go home.
Instead of cutting a bunch of little growths, why not just take out the tumour and save the effort? No one would blame you. No one would care. Oh sure we'll make fun of you for a bit, but it'll be forgotten, or rewritten. No one will really be that upset by it.
Go on. We're here for you.
....US Mint strikes $1.0 Trillion titanium coins.
Even if it got to the President's desk with a Veto-proof majority, he could order the minting well in advance, and the Mint would have it done.
Heck, if I was Obama, I'd order up a collector's set of Jillion Dollar Coins just to fuck around with the collection of horse's asses that is the GOP.
The constitution grants the power to coin money to the congress, not the executive.
I mean, why should the United States of America resort to legal loopholes ?
Why can't America just face the reality as it is - that it is spending way too much money than it is making??
How long do you think America can keep spending the money it doesn't have?
I mean, even if America get the minting of quadrillion-dollar plutonium ingot going, the world doesn't have to "buy" it.
All of us balance our own checkbook at the end of every single month, and try our best to live within our means.
Why can't America?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
You could totally see the Secretary of the Treasury going down to the vending machine having done an all nighter to buy a candy bar. He ends up depositing six trillion dollar coins and all he gets is a Hundred Grand in return.
God spoke to me
I want to plant this unsavory image in your mind: Rep. Wilson has taking the podium in the House chamber, unzipped his pants, and is waving his dysfunctional penis at everyone in the room, along with the television audience on CSPAN. As each House member (yes, it is a pun) responds to him, they also expose themselves and start failing around so that everyone starts looking at their genitals. Soon they are all yelling and competing so that everyone will look at them more then any other idiot in the room.
This is pretty much what this proposal is all about: a mass outbreak of useless posturing that gets in the way of anything meaningful. I think we would, in fact, be better off if they were behaving like mentally disordered perverts. At least they would not be pretending to be "doing the peoples business", and would be acting out their true egomaniac personalities. The empty outcome would be identical with both activities, and exposing themselves in public would be much more honest.
Why is Snark Required?
A billion dollars is a rounding error when it comes to the DoD budget, which for 2012 was $707.5 billion (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Budget_breakdown_for_2012).
Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
(One of Castro's workers tells him some men with a trillion dollar bill are here to see him.)
Mr. Burns: Oh, so the island's not for sale, eh? Well, will you at least permit us to live in your socialist paradise?
Castro (in disbelief): You talking about Cuba?
Mr. Burns: All we ask is preferential treatment because of my fabulous wealth!
[Burns holds the trillion dollar bill up.]
Castro: May I see?
Mr. Burns: Ho ho ho, see with your eyes, not with your hands!
Castro: Please, we are all amigos here!
Homer: Mr. Burns, I *think* we can trust the president of *Cuba*...
Mr. Burns: [hands it to Castro, and waits a couple of seconds.] Now, give it back.
Castro: Give what back?
Mr. Burns: D'oh...
(The three men are on a crudely made raft in the middle of the ocean headed back home.)
Homer: It's hard to believe there's a place worse than America, but we found it!
Mr. Burns: Yes, I, too, feel renewed appreciation for the good old US of A. Oppression and harassment are a small price to pay to live in the land of the free.
Smithers: Sir, aren't you facing some serious jail time?
Mr. Burns: Well, if it's a crime to love one's country, then I'm guilty. And if it's a crime to steal a trillion dollars from our government and hand it over to communist Cuba, then I'm guilty of that too. And if it's a crime to bribe a jury, then so help me, I'll soon be guilty of that!
Homer: God bless America!
--"The Trouble with Trillions"
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Banks. People that charge interest on loans. It's just lazy rent seeking. But it adds no value to the economy and only serves as a means of concentrating capital into a few wealthy folks. Like, do you really believe that the the only people that work are the people that push buttons on Wall Street, right before they beg for a bailout. Yep, sounds about right to me. I think a 47% that makes sandwiches at Wawa does more useful work than a lot of people that work at brokerages.
This is my sig.
The thing that this coin farce is supposed to prove is that the debt ceiling is a construct invented by the Carter Administration with no real regulatory or constitutional basis. The constitution says that debt has to be paid. The constitution says all such bills must originate in the House, which has been controlled by extreme conservatives over the past two years.Once the spending is approved by the house, confirmed by the senate, and signed by the president, the money is authorized, and for all practical intents and purposes spent. If we do not have the money, it must be borrowed.
So, the ability to not build debt exists in the House of Representatives at the time the bills are debated, not much later when the bills are supposed to paid. There has been much talk about running the country responsibly. It is not responsible to put charges on our credit card knowing full well that we are going to have default.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Most people in the street in Europe are in the street because want to work, if possible with more than a minimum wage salary (because it has been a long time since minimum wage is far lower than subsistance wage in a lot of countries. Unless you can teleport from city to country side for free twice a day) They are also in the street because they don't think that it is the best investment of their taxpayer money to spend trillions saving the bank while leaving people in the street having their house repossessed AND still be in debt.
If you print money, wages never keep up with the resulting inflation. If you are rich you have assets which will appreciate in value. The rich will never be hurt by these policies. Printing money is a secret tax on the poor and middle class.
Actually, from an economics pov, a trillion-dollar coin thing might actually work. Given that the last couple of rounds of quantitative easing had zero impact on inflation, and that we're in a liquidity trap, it's entirely possible that no inflation would result. The reasoning is that government spending is what causes inflation (in large part... fiscal policy), and since neither quantitative easing or seigniorage (the trillion dollar coin idea) changes that necessarily, inflation should hold steady. The money supply would only increase as congress spends it, which is about the same as now, in effect, since congress has been spending for years without paying the bill.
I expect a lot of flames now... Yes there are flaws in the plan, but I am interested in seeing this idea explored in depth (pro and con) by economics experts. The fact that so many people, particularly Republicans, call it absurd while continuing to merely kick the can down the road makes me think (perhaps out of spite) that maybe there's something in that proposal that can finally break this vicious cycle.
We can tell from other parts of the world that simply focusing on austerity makes things worse, not better. But continuing to simply raise the debt ceiling while risking people's retirement savings in government bonds, isn't good either. Except for the possibility of some inflation, and the question as to it's legality (since it would effectively break the Fed's power), PCS seems like quite a decent way out. Or else we should just admit that our grand experiment has failed and throw in the towel.
Is the government can't save money. Part of a sound personal budget is saving money in good times so it can be spent in bad times. Fair enough, but the government can't do that. It is meaningless for the entity that mints money to "save" it. If the government printed, or rather simply changed the entry in a database, so they had more money, but then didn't put that money in to circulation and "saved" it, it would have the effect as if they'd done nothing. If instead they actually took money out of circulation, kept it when they collected taxes or what have you, it would lead to deflation which is a very, very bad thing.
So what does the government do? Well it borrows. When the government "saves" what it does instead is to pay down the amount of outstanding debt. Then when it "spends savings" it issues more debt.
That is how it works. You can't compare public accounts to private ones because they function different. You can't demand that the government run itself the same way you run your personal finances, because they aren't the same.
That isn't to say that the government doesn't need to keep borrowing reasonable, but it is very different than personal borrowing.
Because the same group that controls the budget, controls it. Congress sets both, and there is just no reason to have the debt ceiling in that case. It would only be useful if some other party controlled it. It is just a position for political grandstanding as it stands. There is no point to having a limit on someone if that person is the one who sets the limit and can raise it as they please.
It should just be eliminated.
The thing that this coin farce is supposed to prove is that the debt ceiling is a construct invented by the Carter Administration with no real regulatory or constitutional basis.
The debt ceiling dates from World War I, and it replaces Congress having to pass legislation granting specific borrowing authority on a per bond issue (or other instrument) basis.
At the bottom of the page Slashdot gives me this piece of advice:
"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable." -- John Kenneth Galbraith
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !