Tag Archives: fiscal cliff

Platinum Coin Seigniorage, Issuing Debt, Keystroking Deficit Spending, and Inflation

Posted on December 16, 2012 by | 17 comments

By Joe Firestone

The most frequent objections to proposals that we use Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) to create reserves for debt repayment and deficit spending, frequently come back to inflation. Perhaps people can’t get over the association they learned in high school Social Studies, or perhaps in American History, or Economics 101, that when Governments create money and then just spend it without any compensating deflationary action, inflation or hyperinflation happens. Maybe they can’t forget those cartoons about people in Weimar Republic days pushing wheelbarrows full of money to the market to buy some bread. So, I’ve been promising for about a week now, to blog about the likely expected relationship between the different PCS options and inflation using the framework laid out by Scott Fullwiler!

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New MSM Trillion Dollar Coin Wave: Here’s The Big Story

Posted on December 14, 2012 by | 37 comments

By Joe Firestone

The one thing that jumps out at you when reading the mainstream posts of the past week-and-a-half bringing Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) into the forefront of attention again, for the first time since last year’s debt ceiling crisis, is that every mainstream blogger or commentator is telling a story about minting a Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC), or a few trillion dollar coins as an option the President can either use or not to get around the debt ceiling. But no one is telling us the much bigger story of the enormously increased authority to cause the creation of fiat money, delegated to the Executive Branch by the Congress in the 1996 legislation enabling PCS. And no one is telling us what the possible implications of this change are for our political and economic systems. Continue reading →

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New MSM Trillion Dollar Coin Wave Misses the Big Story: Bradford and Plumer

Posted on December 13, 2012 by | 4 comments

By Joe Firestone

In my last three posts, I’ve critiqued the new wave of mainstream posts and commentary on Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) on my way to making the case that the MSM are missing “the big story” about PCS. These  include posts by Pethokoukis, Wiesenthal, Carney, Drum, Yglesias,  Yglesias, and an MSNBC cable segment by Chris Hayes. All of these have looked at PCS in terms of the Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) and its possible impact on the impending debt ceiling shakedown. None have viewed it from a broader point of view. Let’s now look at commentaries by Harry Bradford, and Brad Plumer. Continue reading →

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New MSM Trillion Dollar Coin Wave Misses the Big Story: Drum and Yglesias

Posted on December 13, 2012 by | 29 comments

By Joe Firestone

In my last two posts I’ve been reviewing the new wave of mainstream posts and commentary on Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) by way of providing background for making the case that the MSM are missing “the big story” about PCS. Thus far I’ve reviewed recent posts by Pethokoukis, Wiesenthal, and Carney, and an MSNBC cable segment by Chris Hayes. All four have looked at PCS in terms of the Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) and its possible impact on the impending debt ceiling shakedown. None have viewed it from a broader point of view. Let’s now look at the commentaries by Kevin Drum and two from Matthew Yglesias here and here. Continue reading →

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New MSM Trillion Dollar Coin Wave Misses the Big Story: Hayes and Carney

Posted on December 12, 2012 by | 7 comments

By Joe Firestone

Did the MSM’s new wave of commentaries on platinum coin seigniorage (PCS) miss the really big story about it? Of course, I think it did, and I’ll continue my review of the MSM commentaries with the efforts of Chris Hayes at MSNBC, substituting as host on the Rachel Maddow show (12/05 at 9:20 PM); and John Carney at CNBC (12/06 at 11:54 AM). This is my second review post on this subject. Continue reading →

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New MSM Trillion Dollar Coin Wave Misses the Big Story: Pethokoukis and Wiesenthal

Posted on December 12, 2012 by | 6 comments

By Joe Firestone

In this post I said I would blog about the likely expected relationship between the different PCS options and inflation using the framework laid out by Scott Fullwiler!  But, after reconsidering, I thought I’d hold off until later, and, instead, first provide a discussion of the “new wave” of MSM-based blog posts on the Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) “solution” to the upcoming debt ceiling conflict. As it turns out that will take a number of posts in itself. Continue reading →

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The Trillion Dollar Coin Is A Conservative Meme

Posted on December 9, 2012 by | 15 comments

By Joe Firestone

The Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) is, first, an oversimplified meme, because there’s not one TDC solution, but lots of Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) variations on that idea with differing implications for politics. Some just kick the can down the road, until the next debt ceiling crisis, or set up another trade between the Administration of something relatively valuable for something less valuable. Others would really change the political game. Continue reading →

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Origin and Early History of Platinum Coin Seigniorage In the Blogosphere

Posted on December 8, 2012 by | 31 comments

By Joe Firestone

[Revised 1/6/2013]

This post records the history of platinum coin seigniorage in the blogosphere through the debt ceiling agreement on August 2, 2011. Its purpose is to correct errors in the record about the history of this idea appearing on mainstream blog posts by Joe Wiesenthal, John Carney, and Brad Plumer, during the past week. The idea of using coin seigniorage, the profits made from minting proof platinum coins,  depositing them at the Fed, and receiving electronic credits in return, to remove the need for issuing debt, and so to always stay under the debt ceiling is due to a  commenter (and occasional blogger) on economics and politics blogs whose screen name is beowulf (Carlos Mucha). Beowulf’s first comment on Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS) was on Brad Delong’s site on July 6, 2010 (h/t Cullen Roche, 01/05/13). But, the first comment of his I noticed on PCS was at New Deal 2.0. Unfortunately, when The Roosevelt Institute redid its New Deal 2.0 site, it wiped out the record of beo’s comment. However, I quoted his ND 2.0 proposal in a post on November 12, 2010 discussing a possible Government shutdown due to the debt ceiling. I cross-posted this at Correntewire too where beowulf commented further on the platinum coin option.

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More Austerity Advice From the Very Rich: Buffett On Deficits!

Posted on November 27, 2012 by | 41 comments

By Joe Firestone

Warren Buffett’s recent op-ed in the New York Times is making a stir because it calls for a minimum tax on high incomes above $One million annually. But I was much more interested in some deficit targeting he proposes which exposes his ignorance about the sectoral financial balances model of macro-economics, and reveals him as a deficit hawk whose advice, if followed would be unsustainable and lead the United States into another deep recession. I’ll comment on a couple of paragraphs in Buffett’s op-ed. Continue reading →

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Let’s Defend Social Security and Other Entitlements With the Second Bill Of Rights

Posted on November 27, 2012 by | 4 comments

By Joe Firestone

The favorite defense of Social Security by progressives harkens back to Franklin Roosevelt who famously said:

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