Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman used his Friday column to make the case for minting a $1 trillion platinum coin if it’s necessary to avoid another bruising debt ceiling fight.
An obscure legal loophole allows the Treasury Department to mint commemorative coins of any denomination, which could be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The White House this week even left a little wiggle room on the workaround.
“But wouldn’t the coin trick be undignified?” Krugman wrote. “Yes, it would — but better to look slightly silly than to let a financial and Constitutional crisis explode.”
