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With platinum coin rejected, how about upvaluing the gold reserve instead?
Going from $42.22 to, say, $20,000 per ounce for lots of coins might be more credible.
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Treasury, Fed Kill $1 Trillion Platinum Coins to Avert Debt Crisis
By Steve Holland
Reuters
Saturday, January 12, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/12/us-usa-debt-platinum-idUSBRE90...
WASHINGTON -- So much for the trillion-dollar platinum coin idea.
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Saturday it will not produce platinum coins as a way of generating $1 trillion in revenue and avoiding a battle in Congress over raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
The idea of creating $1 trillion by minting platinum coins has gained some currency among Democrats in recent days as a way of sidestepping congressional Republicans who are threatening to reject a necessary increase in the debt ceiling unless deep spending cuts are made.
The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, both independent of one another, each concluded this was not a viable option.
"Neither the Treasury Department nor the Federal Reserve believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit," said Treasury spokesman Anthony Coley in a statement.
... Dispatch continues below ...
Opinion Around the World Is Changing
in Favor of Gold -- Find Out Why
When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ...
http://www.gata.org/node/11765
When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan...
When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ...
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold...
When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ...
World opinion is changing in favor of gold.
How can you learn why and what it will mean to you?
Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard."
Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him."
To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit:
http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard
Congress' refusal in 2011 to raise the debt ceiling unless the White House agreed to large spending cuts brought the United States close to the brink of a debt default and dealt the weak recovery a setback.
Another crisis is brewing as the United States is expected to reach its authorized debt limit of $16.4 trillion in February.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said that with the platinum coin question resolved, the pressure is on congressional Republicans now to act to raise the debt ceiling.
"Congress can pay its bills or they can fail to act and put the nation into default," he said. "When congressional Republicans played politics with this issue last time, putting us at the edge of default, it was a blow to our economic recovery, causing our nation's credit rating to be downgraded."
There was also no change in Obama's opposition to another possible way to get around Congress that some Democrats support - that of invoking a line in the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Part of the 14th amendment says the validity of the public debt should not be questioned, which some Democrats take to mean that the president can raise the debt ceiling on his own. The White House says it does not believe that approach would stand up legally.
"Congress needs to do its job," said Carney.
The idea behind the platinum coin was that Treasury would mint a coin or coins from the precious metal and that the value would be placed at $1 trillion.
For the plan to work, the Federal Reserve would have to deposit it in the Treasury account and credit the account $1 trillion that could be used to pay the nation's bills.
But if the Federal Reserve does not believe that the coin is worth $1 trillion and refuses to buy it, then the plan falls apart.
Some liberals, like New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, had supported the idea and a petition submitted to the White House website had thousands of signatures. This kind of momentum prompted both the Fed and the Obama administration to consider the concept, and they ultimately decided it would not work.
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Vancouver Resource Investment Conference
Sunday-Monday, January 20 and 21, 2013
Vancouver Convention Centre West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/vancouver-resource-investment-confer...
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