In Conversation Episode 3 the Trillion Dollar Coin

Foreign It's getting rid of our national debt as Simple as the United States meant Striking coins worth a trillion dollars Each I'm Chuck Woolery welcome to in Conversation This week former directors of the United States met Philip deal and Ed Moy Discuss the concept of the trillion Dollar coin an idea from Phillips time Leading the mint High deficits and the Um In the national debt growing at a very Fast clip there's been a number of Possible solutions to that that are Currently being debated but the one of The most unusual ones yes is having the Mint mint a trillion dollar Platinum coin yes uh to basically take Care of of the deficit that legislation Actually you've had to do it yet yes I Did and we do that yes and is it a good Idea yes Well We never contemplated that you know this Whole concept of a trillion dollar coin I mean it was so far outside of Anybody's imagination But the way it started was the a Lobbyists for the Platinum industry came To me and said we'd like to make a Platinum coin and we'd like you to make

A platinum coin and so I was looking for In and this was before we did the you Know 50 state quarters I was looking for An opportunity to demonstrate what the Mint was capable of doing and I like the Platinum coin because our competition Was would be the Canadian Mint and they Dominated the World Market for uh for Platinum coins and I wanted to take them On yeah and so we passed this Legislation authorized it and mission Accomplished within six months of the Launch of the coin we own the world's Platinum Market about 60 to 70 percent So platinum coin continues to be Produced for like you know uh Another 15 years or so and then Uh republicans in Congress began to Act to stop the deficit from growing and In that context the Democratic White House the Obama White House and the Republicans in Congress came to Loggerheads that threatened to put the Country into default on its debt this Was in the early teens it was a big star Dog yeah it was a real big stare down And there was a brilliant young guy Nobody knew who looked at that law and Realized because the law did not mandate What the denomination would be the Secretary of Treasury could put whatever Denomination he wanted on that now we Talked earlier about the profit that is Produced when the value of a coin the

Face value of a coin is larger than that Of the cost of production well when you Produce a trillion dollar coin you get a Trillion dollars in profit I mean you Know and they're one of the things that You know was silly where people said Well you'd have to produce an enormous Coin to for a trillion dollars no no of Course not and so Um this really caught on even in Congress as a way of breaking this Log Jam and so you know and because I wrote This law I you know people came to me to Say is this possible and the reality is Yes yeah and so for our viewers we are Talking literally to the horse's mouth Yes yes well I yeah so and that has come Up several times when Congress and Democratic Administration has hit Loggerheads and it sort of popped up Again like three or four years ago and There was a lot of talk about it Um the problem with it of course is it Looks like an enormous gimmick that is The real big problem there's a lot of Other problems that are discussed in the Media that are not problems they're made Up but that it does look like yes and It's a little trickery Yeah but so um uh how would you then Counter Um the people who say well why Mint one One trillion dollar coin let's spend 30 And get rid of the deficit yeah yeah we

Met uh uh you know uh six of them yes And pay for the federal budget each year Yes yes well the reason is because that Is a bridge that will not be crossed It's sort of an imaginary theoretical Possibility and there are some obstacles Some big obstacles to actually getting It done I mean the treasury Department Won't do it uh president United States Won't do it Federal Reserve wouldn't do It so that it's a scenario that will Never happen But what the reason for producing a Trillion dollar coin is to eliminate the Continuing possibility of this you know Sort of holding hostage America's Finances and a trillion dollar coin once It was produced and it doesn't have to Be it might be a half trillion or Whatever but once that is done one time It defends that threat and the trillion Dollar coin at that point you know never Goes into circulation and at that point The the Congress raises the deficit uh Ceiling and the trillion dollar coin Comes back to the mint is melted down Removed from the books and it's like it Never existed but it always becomes a Possibility for resolving this conflict If Federal rises in the future but isn't The easier way or the Um uh the way that the constitution or Not the Constitution the way that Current law allows yes is just get rid

Of of the debt limit so we don't have to Come to these loggerheads every couple Years yes that absolutely that's the Preferred way and that's the sensible Rational way get rid there's no there's Nothing that is really beneficial to the Country that comes from the debt limit But that requires Congress to act and Um it and usually it's because either a Sub difference in the parties that Control Congress and the White House or It's the problem that uh you know both Republicans and Democrats inevitably Deal with and that's the super majority Requirements in the Senate it is so Difficult to get 60 votes to get Anything done these days yeah and I Remember when the debt limit first came Into me being it was really a check on Congress's spending but uh in reality it Really hasn't been effective as a tool Yes that's right visit Usmoneyreserve.com for more information On precious metals coins and precious Metal IRAs America's gold Authority U.S money Reserve is proud to be a leading Distributor of government issue Gold Silver Platinum and Palladium For over 20 years hundreds of thousands Of clients have placed their trust in The company to help select the highest Quality and most appropriate precious Metals for their portfolios

So whether you're a first-time buyer are Looking to expand your current portfolio U.S money Reserve is committed to Bringing you a superior customer Experience I'm Chuck Woolery Thank you for watching in conversation