1hundredsixty8

Josh Barro and Joe Weisenthal are on a tear. Their crusade to have the Treasury mint a one trillion dollar platinum coin and deposit it with the Federal Reserve so the government can continue to pay its debts without borrowing has the various media outlets and economic-political commentariats all a-flutter. Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) was projecting high-voltage nervous energy on Twitter yesterday during White House Press Secretary Jay Carney's briefing, pleading in repeated tweets for a member of the press corps to ask about "The Coin".  The Stalwart was nearly orgiastic when NBC's Chuck Todd did indeed press Carney about it. He subsequently reveled in the fact that Carney did not actually dismiss the idea out-of-hand.

What fascinates me about this is not simply the idea that two very intelligent young men can use their positions as journalists and their mastery of social media to launch this campaign in the first place and thus provide a novel serving of entertainment;  what is more engaging is that they are in reality provoking a discussion of an issue that distills the essential dysfunction of our political institutions. As Barro has pointed out, "monetizing deficits, in lieu of borrowing, is no way to run a country; it's silly." It is just as absurd as having a debt ceiling,  an artificial limit Congress imposed on the borrowing the government can do to pay for the expeditures the Congress itself has already authorized.  And it is truly silly to engage in the political slight-of-hand that leads the public to believe the debt limit is an authentic issue. Our legislators have basic questions of policy and governance to address, and they instead engage in kabuki. Mint the coin (or, as some say it, "MTFC") serves to emphsize this absurdity.

So,  in the spirit of #mintthecoin, I am willing to entertain offers for business partners to exploit the phenonenom. I am thinking tee-shirts, of course, and hoodies. We need to move quickly, people, so contact me. Please have your credit cards ready.

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-nicasaurus