Former Mint Director Who Wrote ‘Trillion-Dollar Coin’ Law Explains Why the Coin Isn’t a Bad Idea [View all]

[RetroGamer1971]

Source: www.gawker.com

It's not every day you get an email from a former director of the U.S. Mint (unless you're married to one, probably) — but it's also not every day that you write about the very real possibility that the U.S. Treasury might mint a platinum coin worth one trillion dollars. Either way, it was an excellent surprise to hear from Philip Diehl, the former Mint director and Treasury chief of staff who drafted Sec. 5112 of title 31, United States Code with Rep. Mike Castle — in other words, the guy who wrote the "trillion-dollar coin" law. His take? Not only does the law clearly allow for the coin to be minted, it also would have "no negative macroeconomic effects."

I'm the former Mint director and Treasury chief of staff who, with Rep. Mike Castle, wrote the platinum coin law (Sec. 5112 of title 31, United States Code) and oversaw minting of the original coin authorized by the law, so I'm in a unique position to address some confusion I've seen in the media about the $1 trillion platinum coin proposal.

In minting the $1 trillion platinum coin, the Treasury Secretary would be exercising authority which Congress has granted routinely for more than 220 years. The Secretary's authority is derived from an Act of Congress (in fact, a GOP Congress) under power expressly granted to Congress in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). What is unusual about the law is that it gives the Secretary discretion regarding all specifications of the coin, including denominations.

Read more: http://gawker.com/5974218/former-mint-director-who-wrote-trillion+dollar-coin-law-explains-why-the-coin-isnt-a-bad-idea

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I think a bunch of republican politicians just spit-taked their lunch reading this.