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The $1 Trillion coin thing was never a serious plan. Ex-Treasury official: "As a straightforward matter the Federal Reserve wouldn’t give Treasury a trillion d

by bcoates 13y ago

The $1 Trillion coin thing was never a serious plan. Ex-Treasury official: "As a straightforward matter the Federal Reserve wouldn’t give Treasury a trillion dollars for that coin." That said, he's keeping with the party line that the US "always pays it's bills on time", so take it with a grain of salt (the US defaulted twice or more in the 20th century, depending on how you count) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/03/why-we-wont-mint-the-coin-why-we-cant-just-pay-off-bonds-and-other-scary-debt-ceiling-facts/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/03/w...

adambom 13y ago
"A Lannister always pays his debts"
lkrubner 13y ago
No national government of an English speaking nation has defaulted on its debt since the “Great Stop of the Exchequer” of Charles II Stuart in 1672: "Here in the Anglo-Saxon world—never mind how few of us in it have any substantial proportion of our ancestors coming ashore with Hengest, Horsa, Esc, Ella, Cymen, Wlenking, and Cissa to loot, pillage, rape, and burn—we have not seen any government default since the “stop of the exchequer” of Charles II Stuart, when he simply got sick of paying his bills and decided to balance his budget by defaulting on his debt and then accepting bribes from Louis XIV of France, who was desperately anxious that Britain not help the Dutch resist his invasion." http://delong.typepad.com/files/20120221-the-budget-and-macro-policy.pdf http://delong.typepad.com/files/20120221-the-budget-and-macr...
- bcoates 13y ago
  I'm not sure if he's using an esoteric definition of "national government", "English speaking", or "default", but if you consider the "Failing to make a payment on a US government issued bond as agreed" then he's wrong. The US failed to pay out on inflation-adujsted WWI War bonds (paying them in nominal dollars rather than gold contrary to the bond terms, a substantial haircut) and during a previous unprecedented debt ceiling crisis in 1979 the US tried to dance too close to the edge and wasn't able to pay all the bonds due on time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_bond#Default_of_the_Fourth_Liberty_Bond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_bond#Default_of_the_Fou... http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137773341/looking-at-when-the-u-s-last-defaulted-on-treasury-bonds http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137773341/looking-at-when-the-...

by bcoates 13y ago

adambom 13y ago

"A Lannister always pays his debts"

lkrubner 13y ago

No national government of an English speaking nation has defaulted on its debt since the “Great Stop of the Exchequer” of Charles II Stuart in 1672: "Here in the Anglo-Saxon world—never mind how few of us in it have any substantial proportion of our ancestors coming ashore with Hengest, Horsa, Esc, Ella, Cymen, Wlenking, and Cissa to loot, pillage, rape, and burn—we have not seen any government default since the “stop of the exchequer” of Charles II Stuart, when he simply got sick of paying his bills and decided to balance his budget by defaulting on his debt and then accepting bribes from Louis XIV of France, who was desperately anxious that Britain not help the Dutch resist his invasion." http://delong.typepad.com/files/20120221-the-budget-and-macro-policy.pdf http://delong.typepad.com/files/20120221-the-budget-and-macr...

bcoates 13y ago
I'm not sure if he's using an esoteric definition of "national government", "English speaking", or "default", but if you consider the "Failing to make a payment on a US government issued bond as agreed" then he's wrong. The US failed to pay out on inflation-adujsted WWI War bonds (paying them in nominal dollars rather than gold contrary to the bond terms, a substantial haircut) and during a previous unprecedented debt ceiling crisis in 1979 the US tried to dance too close to the edge and wasn't able to pay all the bonds due on time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_bond#Default_of_the_Fourth_Liberty_Bond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_bond#Default_of_the_Fou... http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137773341/looking-at-when-the-u-s-last-defaulted-on-treasury-bonds http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137773341/looking-at-when-the-...