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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rassi, post: 1606671, member: 22149&quot;]Not only would they be beyond the price-tag reach of just about every world-wide collector, if they do get made I can&#039;t imagine they&#039;d ever get into circulation....</p><p><br /></p><p>From:&nbsp; <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/trillion-dollar-coins-the-ultimate-debt-ceiling-end-around/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/trillion-dollar-coins-the-ultimate-debt-ceiling-end-around/" rel="nofollow">http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/trillion-dollar-coins-the-ultimate-debt-ceiling-end-around/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;With President Obama having kicked off debt ceiling negotiations by&nbsp; vowing not to negotiate over the debt ceiling, a new option for paying&nbsp; off the nation’s considerable tab is gaining momentum with cheeky fiscal&nbsp; and monetary wonks. It goes like this: Should Congress fail to extend the U.S. debt limit&nbsp; — reached again on Dec. 31 — the president could ask the Treasury to&nbsp; begin printing trillion dollar coins (in a process explained mostly&nbsp; seriously by <a href="http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/12/how-could-washington-avoid-a-debt-ceiling-default-mint-a-few-trillion-dollar-platinum-coins-seriously/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/12/how-could-washington-avoid-a-debt-ceiling-default-mint-a-few-trillion-dollar-platinum-coins-seriously/" rel="nofollow">Jim Pethokoukis on his American Enterprise Institute blog</a>), a number of which could then be put toward fulfilling debt obligations in the event new legislation stalls in Congress.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;While there are laws in place to regulate how much paper, gold,&nbsp; silver or copper currency can be circulated by the government, there is&nbsp; nothing so clearly stated when it comes to platinum. That door open, the&nbsp; Treasury could have the U.S. Mint melt and mold a few trillion dollars&nbsp; of it, then ship the goods over to the Federal Reserve for safekeeping&nbsp; until the time comes to pay the bills.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;The more difficult part comes sometime after the decision is made to&nbsp; coin the platinum and before the Mint gets to work in sculpting the&nbsp; pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;At that point, the American people must decide whose face will adorn&nbsp; the trillion dollar trinket. The process to determine the “specs” of the&nbsp; coin, U.S. Mint Public Affairs Specialist Genevieve Billia warns, must&nbsp; be “determined by legislation,” creating the potential for another&nbsp; congressional impasse.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Also to note: The likeness sculpted into its side must belong to a dead person, ruling out early favorite <a href="https://twitter.com/stefanjbecket/status/286943192186777600" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://twitter.com/stefanjbecket/status/286943192186777600" rel="nofollow">Ikea Monkey</a>, but boosting the candidacies of&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/286628942432059393" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/286628942432059393" rel="nofollow">Ronald Reagan</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/TheArmoTrader/status/286627551995117570" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://twitter.com/TheArmoTrader/status/286627551995117570" rel="nofollow">John Maynard Keynes</a>.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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