how the $1 trillion coin minted by the United States and deposited into the treasury doesn’t help resolve the outstanding debt without ramifications.

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how the $1 trillion coin minted by the United States and deposited into the treasury doesn’t help resolve the outstanding debt without ramifications.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

An important bit that others have mentioned but is sometimes getting buried is that *the coin would not be used to pay debts*. The government would do whatever it would have done in the financial markets in the absence of a debt limit, so the economy, value of the dollar, etc. would be unaffected.

The coin would just be used to keep the nominal value of the US debt below the debt ceiling. The government would have all the same debt it wanted to have (and that Congress in fact demanded it have), but there would also be a “trillion dollar coin” sitting in the bank that makes the total value of the debt 1 trillion less and so below the ceiling.

Here’s a metaphor: Congress has asked the President to publish an edition of War and Peace with a page limit of 50. The Department of Formatting has done everything it can to shrink the font sizes and margins but can only get the text down to 51 pages. Out of desperation, the President declares that the book actually starts on page 0. Nothing is cut from the book, but the highest page number is now 50, thus fulfilling the letter (if not the spirit) of Congress’ irrational demand.

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