Learn me on this: There's no money for social programs but they're going to mint a $1 trillion coin?

[Fire Walk With Me]

Fiscal cliffs, debt ceilings, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my...



"austerity" is nothing more than a form of theft by the rich. "Creating causes and conditions."

[frazzled]

1. The coin is so they can PAY for all the social programs

Okay, let me try. The Republicans don't want to raise the debt ceiling. That is, they don't want to let the government borrow the money to pay the bills they've already incurred (incurred because Congress earlier approved the spending). If the debt ceiling limit is not raised, then the government can't pay for either the interest it owes to its creditors or all the other things it pays out, such as Social Security, Medicare, Defense contracts, etc.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will have to stop paying for EVERYTHING that usually automatically goes out. It could stop paying on its debts, but that would make everything even worse, because then no one would ever lend us money, and our entire economy would go into a shambles, and we wouldn't have any money to pay for all these things we do on a regular basis. In other words, it's a giant clusterfuck, Catch-22 mess.

The coin idea (which is not going to happen) is a way for the administration to say, okay, we'll just mint a trillion dollar coin that will sit at the Fed and that will be the money we borrow to pay for everything. Apparently, it could actually work. But it's never going to happen.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Thanks, gotcha. The rest of us have to balance our checkbooks but they can create money out of

nothing all day long because the system has been gamed. I support the gold standard...

[frazzled]

5. You support the gold standard?

Okay, that's as nutty as the platinum coin hypothesis.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. I support having a system not jackable by jerks, which promotes some level of responsibility.

I don't know the ins and outs of what happened under the gold standard, but would hope that it was better than this science fiction we're being forced to endure at the expense of the poor. I just want something sane, which works for the people of this country, as it's supposed to.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Question

Have you ever taken a loan? You mean you have? Working governments take loans regularly.

We have a few advantages, such as being a reserve currency, but we take loans, just as the guv'ment does.

[leftstreet]

2. Throw coin over Fiscal Bluff - make wish

DURec

[Recursion]

3. Minting the coin costs whatever an ounce of platinum costs

Plus the design and dye time. Call it $3000 ($1500 for the platinum itself, $1000 for the artist, $500 for the stamp time).

[Historic NY]

8. Its only one little coin...

They should mint a brazillion and then sell them..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Will it have P.T. Barnum or Charles Ponzi on the face?