Results 1 to 2 of 2
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
-
12-04-2013, 11:53 AM #1
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Posts
- 8,546
Report: Obama Seriously Considered $1 Trillion Coin Idea To Allow Him To Ignore Debt
Report: Obama Seriously Considered $1 Trillion Coin Idea To Allow Him To Ignore Debt Ceiling, Had Lawyers Draft Memo Laying Out Legal Case….
Remember, this cockamamie idea was put forward by Kranky Kruggers and a bunch of other left-wing nuts.
Via HuffPo:
The Obama administration was serious enough about manufacturing a high-value platinum coin to avert a congressional fight over the debt ceiling that it had its top lawyers draw up a memo laying out the legal case for such a move, The Huffington Post learned last week.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which functions as a sort of law firm for the president and provides him and executive branch agencies with authoritative legal advice, formally weighed in on the platinum coin option sometime since Obama took office, according to OLC’s recent response to HuffPost’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. While the letter acknowledged the existence of memos on the platinum coin option, OLC officials determined they were “not appropriate for discretionary release.”
HuffPost submitted the FOIA request when there was increased speculation about the use of the platinum coin option ahead of the debt ceiling crisis this fall. Under the compromise reached between the House and Senate following the government shutdown, the U.S. will hit the debt ceiling once again on Feb. 7, though the Treasury can use extraordinary measures to extend that deadline.
Supporters of the platinum coin option say that under a 1996 law allowing the Treasury Department to mint a platinum coin in any denomination, the president could order the manufacture of, say, a $1 trillion coin that would be deposited in the Federal Reserve. The Treasury Department would then use the platinum coin funds to meet government obligations without the need for Congress to grant any additional spending powers.
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/12/03/r...ut-legal-case/
-
12-04-2013, 01:30 PM #2
The Trillion Dollar Coin Scam
By: AndrewHyman (Diary) | January 12th, 2013 at 05:07 PM |
I guess this harebrained idea is getting enough attention that some debunking is in order. The idea is for the U.S. Mint to manufacture a trillion dollar coin, deposit it with the Federal Reserve, and then draw the money gradually out of that fund. The key statute cited is 31 USC 5112(k):
The Secretary may mint and issue platinum bullion coins and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, may prescribe from time to time.
Once the coin is minted, another statute comes into play, 31 USC 5136, which among other things says this about the Mint’s deposit fund:[T]he Fund may retain receipts from the Federal Reserve System from the sale of circulating coins at face value for deposit into the Fund….
Now, I’m no expert on monetary policy and government finance, but when I read this last statute, it clearly refers to “circulating coins” rather than other kinds of coins like “numismatic coins” and “bullion coins.” These last two terms are also used in the statutes in contradistinction to “circulating coins” which are “available for ordinary commerce in packaging of sizes and types appropriate for and useful to ordinary commerce, including rolled coins.”
So it seems like the plain language of the statutes argues against this trillion dollar coin scheme.
The Federal Reserve banks have no need for such a thing. But even if I’ve somehow misread the statutes, clearly Congress never intended such a bizarre thing as a trillion dollar platinum coin, which is far outside the realm of any reasonable discretion. If we use our imaginations, and suppose that Congress really did intend to delegate that much discretion, then surely it would amount to an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power.
I used to collect coins when I was a kid, and it would have been nice to have one of these in my collection, but that’s just a silly fantasy, like the entire scheme.
UPDATE (Jan. 12, 2013): Looks like the stupid idea is now officially dead.
http://www.redstate.com/andrewhyman/2013/01/12/the-trillion-dollar-coin-scam/
===============================================
BUZZFEED, HUFFPO'S NEW BUSINESS MODEL: DRIVE TRAFFIC WITH HOAXES
@ http://www.alipac.us/f9/todays-inter...ublish-272255/
& http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journal...ic-with-Hoaxes
NO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
Border Patrol union says Biden is flying in migrants so 'border...
03-28-2024, 06:25 PM in illegal immigration News Stories & Reports