The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V20 2017 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 4, January 22, 2017, Article 33

MORE ON THAT TRILLION-DOLLAR COIN

Here's some more background on that crazy "trillion dollar coin" idea floated back in 2012/2013. -Editor

President Barack Obama almost minted the coin.

On "Pod Save America," a podcast from new media start-up Crooked Media featuring former Obama staffers and speechwriters, Obama was asked what the "scariest moment" of his presidency was.

"I think it was the moment when it seemed that [former Republican House Speaker] John Boehner didn't seem to generate the votes to make sure the US didn't default on our debt," said Obama. "We had to start drafting a speech."

In the midst of the possibility of a government shutdown, Obama said that the administration was considering any number of ways to avoid the shutdown and deal with the national debt. One of the ideas floated, according to Obama, was having the US Treasury mint a coin worth $1 trillion to pay off a good portion of the debt.

"We were having these conversations with Jack Lew and others about what options in fact were available, because it had never happened before," said Obama. "There were all kinds of wacky ideas about how potentially you could have this massive coin."

Obama's idea of the coin may be a bit different from what others discussed at the time. As Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal (who we should note was fascinated by the idea while at Business Insider) noted on Twitter, you in theory could just mint any size of coin and declare it worth $1 trillion. Obama, however, said he imagined it much larger.

"It was some primitive... it was out of the Stone Age," Obama told the hosts. "I pictured rolling in some coin."

Um, yeah... It would have looked great next to the Yap Stone money at the National Numismatic Collection. Former Mint Director Ed Moy slapped everyone back to reality with his January 8, 2013 CNBC article, The $1 Trillion Platinum Coin Ain't Worth a Plugged Nickel.

QUICK QUIZ: Who can tell us what a Plugged Nickel is?

Oh, yeah - Dan Carr made this great satirical piece in 2013 (sorry, they're sold out). -Editor

Dan Carr Uncle Scan Trillion Dollar satirical coin

For more information, see:
2013 Trillion Dollar "Debt Limit Evasion" Hard Times Token, Silver Proof-like (www.dc-coin.com/2008hardtimestoken536minted-2-3-1-1-2-2.aspx)

To read the complete article, see:
Obama: This was the scariest night of my presidency (/www.aol.com/article/news/2017/01/19/obama-this-was-the-scariest-night-of-my-presidency/21658369/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
FORMER U.S. MINT DIRECTOR MOY ON THE TRILLION DOLLAR COIN (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n02a22.html)
FIRM MARKETS FANTASY TRILLION DOLLAR COIN (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n09a18.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V20 2017 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster

coin