Seigniorage Hack Could Resolve Debt Limit Crisis

UltraOne writes "With the US Senate voting to table the Boehner debt limit bill, the US is only a few days away from running out of cash to pay for all its obligations. Slate is reporting on a fascinating legal hack that could come in handy, described by blogger 'beowulf' back in January 2011. Seigniorage is the extra value added when a government mints a coin with a face value greater than the value of the precious metal contained in the coin. The statute governing the minting of coins contains a section (31 USC 5112(k) ) that authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue platinum coins in any denomination or quantity. To keep the government from running out of money, Timothy Geithner could order a $5 trillion platinum coin struck and deposited at the Federal Reserve. The money could then be used to fund Federal Government operations (blog post contains legal details)."

Eck.

[mikkelm]

All the while, the rest of us are stuck moving refrigerators and colour TVs.

Re:Eck.

[demonlapin]

You should have to learned to play the guitar. You should have learned to play them drums.

I was thinking it'd be a gold hack--

[istartedi]

--just take half the gold in Ft. Knox. Issue gold certificates backed by it at a value such that the debt is paid; but don't allow redemption.

Then there's the punster solution:

Get 14 $1 bills. Tear them in half. That's 14 terabucks.