This is the part that really caught me off guard in the opinion. Folks rightly focus on, well, the top-line. But this is just a complete misunderstanding of executive privilege or where it comes from, and is patently, grossly invented for one man and for one case
Everybody makes jokes about ordering drone strikes on Mar-a-Lago, etc. which is obviously insane.
But Biden should be using the ruling to "fire a shot across the bow" on some policy matters, if only to highlight the extent of SCOTUS' partisan corruption.
I think it would be hilarious if he had the 6 conservative SCOTUS justices’ catalytic converters stolen, refined, and minted into a coin that erased a significant fraction of the national debt.
It doesn’t work—part of the problem with a creative solution is that the legal uncertainty itself would have calamitous effects, even if you’re ultimately vindicated. But don’t put anything past this court either
So my longer argument is that its value as an idea (versus, say, a 14A claim to blow past the limit) is precisely that it sidesteps the calamitous uncertainty of going past the debt ceiling by any other means
I think you can even make a pretty non-trivial argument he should do it /outside/ of a debt-ceiling fight (but as a practical matter, they never would)
It would give the justices time to try selling coin bits for $0.167 trillion and then announce how they’re accepting openly ridiculous claims of standing from persons harmed by having a solvent government in order to reverse Trump v. US
Folks really hate the "mint the coin" stuff because it feels like (and involves) a gimmick, but the basic observation underpinning it is actually very smart and quite profound: at the fiscal level, seigniorage and debt are identical.
If it were me I'd just enter the next debt ceiling fight with a "I minted a $100tn coin. If Congress wants to default the country, it may vote to do so. And I remain constrained by their appropriations. This is not new money I can spend. But the country will not default by accident on my watch"
"Congress can constrain spending by appropriations, and it must affirmatively vote for every dollar I spend. But I reject that it can default the country through inaction. It is not sustainable. It is not sensible. Nobody wants this. It is time to end this farce."
national budgets, with governments able to raise taxes and issue bonds, aren't the same as household ones, let alone for the issuer of the world's reserve currency
but casting this as "the GOP bought something and are trying to cancel the credit card before paying the bill" would be fair game
Just complete insanity that we are still having this conversation in this grim year of our lord Elvis 2024. At this point I'm in favor of whatever idiotic stunt takes this entire issue off the table. This is no way to run a circus.
the House and Senate and (usually) the executive branch each propose detailed budgets, Congress reconciles them, the president signs it into law, and then the Republicans play year-long games about whether it will actually be funded
don't know if any other country does anything resembling this
it's not a crime and it's probably legal (given the two absurd statutes in play) but getting around the debt ceiling by ordering the mint to coin a roll of $100B platinum coins the size of dimes and ordering the Treasury to accept them at face value
I think you need to do an objectively absurd number otherwise you have to beat back "but inflation" concerns (which aren't real, but are a bit hard to explain why they aren't real). If you do "Here is my $80 quadrillion coin" you force everyone to recognize the hyperinflation Q isn't real
they're too old now but getting Schwarzenegger and Ventura to carry out a manhole cover-size $10 trillion platinum coin onto the stage at a Biden/Harris rally would be fun
i understand the idea of making it coin-sized for practical reasons but when has America ever been about being practical
also, in a fit of compromise, i say we make the manhole coin out of tungsten so all the crypto bros support it
My proposal, even given the godawful oversized exhaust system of that motorcoach Thomas received as a bribe, would result in a comically, impractically tiny coin, which I think would add to the gesture’s impact overall.
Raise the debt ceiling to One Centillion Dollars.
One centillion is a 1 followed by 303 zeros, or 1 followed by 600 zeros (depending on the system used).
The advantage is it's hard for R's make a number with "one cent..." in the name feel scary. Printing out all those zeros will just look silly.
