Platinum problems
Michael R. Strain | The American
January 12, 2013

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With all the serious unknowns, minting a $1 trillion platinum coin seems an act of hubris.

At the risk of understating the obvious, the fact that we are having a discussion bordering on the serious over running the printing presses to pay our bills - i.e., minting a platinum coin of large dollar value - is troubling. And yet we are. Paul Krugman is enthusiastic in Friday's New York Times: "Mint that coin!" White House press secretary Jay Carney was even asked about minting a coin as a way to avoid negotiating a debt ceiling increase with Congress. Carney didn't rule out the possibility.

Donald Marron, head of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, seems to agree with the argument made by Bloomberg's Josh Barro and others: in the event that Congress and the president can't come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, the United States has limited options, all bad. "In this ugly group," writes Marron, "the platinum coin looks relatively shiny."

What are the options for the president in the event that a deal can't be reached with Congress?

Get access to the full article at The American.

Michael R. Strain is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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About the Author

 

Michael R.
Strain


  • Michael R. Strain's academic research fits broadly within labor economics and applied microeconomics. Specifically, he has written on the causes of labor market earnings volatility, how earnings volatility varies across workers, the effects of single-sex classrooms on students' education outcomes, job loss and its effects on workers and firms, and the welfare effects of payday loans. Strain began his career in the research group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Before joining AEI, he managed the New York Census Research Data Center, a U.S. Census Bureau research facility. As an economist with the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies, Strain was part of the research staff of the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program.


     

  • Phone: 202-862-4884
    Email: michael.strain@aei.org

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    Name: Regan Kuchan
    Phone: 202-862-5903
    Email: regan.kuchan@aei.org
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