Post date: Jan 10, 2013 9:56:34 PM
The suggestion to mint a trillion dollar (USD) platinum coin to help solve the U.S. debt crisis sparks a farcical debate among pundits.
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (REUTERS) - Could the answer to the U.S. economy's woes be solved with the creation of one platinum coin to the tune of one trillion dollars (USD)? That's what pundits have offered as a comical solution to the country's looming debt-crisis.
An online petition on Whitehouse.gov calling for signatures to "Direct the United StatesMint to make a single platinum trillion dollar coin" has gathered over 7,000 signatures.The idea even caught the attention of late-night comic Stephen Colbert who turned it into a topic on his show.
"We should have known that a coin was Obama's solution to everything. It was right there in his slogan - 'change,'" Colbert told his audience on his January 8 broadcast of "The Colbert Report."
"Folks, I checked into this. I checked into it and it is legal in that it is not technically illegal."
Several parodies of what the trillion dollar coin should look like includes the faces of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and even Dr. Evil from the the popular movie franchise, Austin Powers.
But in a press briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney didn't give the idea credence.
"Look, there is no plan B. There is no back-up plan," Carney said in response to a reporter asking whether the U.S. believed it had the power to mint the coin.
"There is Congress' responsibility to pay the bills of the United States."
Even if the idea to mint a one trillion dollar coin became a reality, it would only scratch the surface. The current U.S. debt stands at over $16 trillion USD.