If the President doesn’t go that route, and he doesn’t direct his Treasury Secretary to mint a $1 trillion platinum coin, then … The increase in top marginal rates will soon turn into a hollow victory on partisan grounds.

Reductio ad absurdum!

I like the idea of Platinum coins! Anything we can do to keep the Federal Reserve from controlling the situation any longer is good to me.

***Bohner and his buds need to change their talking points about the fiscal cliff. Bush tax cuts have not produced the jobs they keep shouting would be cut off if the tax plan expired.

Most of us “little people/peasants” have not seen the proof that giving the wealthy tax cuts and corporate subsidies equals employment for us. I laugh at the tv when they are on spewing that garbage. Not just at them for saying it, but for all the people that believe it.

I think we should have US Treasury minted coins now. I also think that the President should announce a huge Federal restruction project for America.

I know the elites and neocons would hate it, but they would actually make money from it. Just think how much, GE, Westinghouse/Siemans, and other diversified industries would make from the infrastructure rebuiling in this country.

Ooops! I forgot to warn that it would destroy the neo plan to privately own the roads, bridges, utilities, schools, water supply, and anything else that doesn’t read “Public”.

Dems should cave again right? Every time that happens the demands grow. No caving again by dems- standing firm is the only thing republicans respect.
the president should come out and say that partisanship over patrotism makes you a traitor to this country

My feeling is that if they go down this road let them. Shutting down the government has worked so well for them in the past….

Rich Dems are the same in almost every aspect of politics as rich Rep’s so it is clear no matter what machinations go on in the D.C. Beltway the lobbyists and wealthy will rule the day. Talking about Washington Democrats like they are on the side of the 99% is total BULLSHIT!

Congress creates legislation to generate revenue, and the House must originate it. Congress appropriates money to be spent, and the House must originate (pro forma) that legislation. That sets the debt. What the President can do is not spend as much as Congress provides, but Congress already has the power to deny a unilateral sequester (established when Nixon try to defund the War on Poverty.)

And Congress in its posturing has set a redundant debt limit that it itself keeps exceeding.

As long as the President is spending what Congress appropriates and the revenue stream is coming in based on Congressionally created tax law, when the debt limit conflicts with the actual debt, the President has the discretion of choosing the debt limit or choosing to spend what has actually been appropriated.

The President can just blow by the debt limit and make the political discussion about the FY 2014 budget. Given the likelihood that he will come into January with the fiscal cliff in effect, he will implement the plan he made prior to the election as to what and where to cut. And likely agency heads have been squirreling away savings to cover just such a contingency.

The best thing that could happen is for the debt limit to become the irrelevancy that it is. That might just happen without a trillion-dollar coin. And the hard decisions shoved back on the Congress.

Or none of this could happen. I have said before that we won’t know what the second term looks like until February when the President’s budget come out. If the President succeeds in forcing the House to pass the Senate middle class tax cut bill and that alone, he will have more political capital come January because the public is not fooled this time about who is dragging their feet. The only question is will he use it.

History tells us no he won’t use it. Remember the “Big Pharma” deal BEFORE the healthcare debate started.

Yup. As Matt Taibbi once put it, while Dems & GOPers put on a show of bitter partisanship in public, behind closed doors they f*ck like crazed weasels.

Now we’re really talking about a game of chicken. There’s no doubt the Republicans have the balls, the wingnut support in the house, and especially the support of the beltway chattering class to take it to the limit.

Doubtful that Barry would risk a real knock-down, drag-out confrontation, or an artful dodge (i.e. the $1T coin or invoking the 4th). It’s just not in his character. Republicans know that if they push him far enough he, and Dems in congress, will cave.

All of a sudden “cliff” negotiations take a backseat to filibuster reform and the “bully pulpit.” It still seems that if the prez makes the case, the public will blame the Republicans when the gov starts to shut down.

Unfortunately, the Dems history of weakness makes the latest strong opening offer on the “cliff” seem like an empty gesture. Or pure kabuki.

So y ou are saying there is no real difference between one rich asshole and another rich asshole?

I agree.

History is not destiny. It tells us nothing except probabilities. Certainties happen only at the event itself.

What is different now is that he is not playing to voters, he is not playing to donors. He is playing to historians. That makes the current situation unpredictable. We don’t know yet how he want historians to remember him.

Excellent analysis as usual.

I’d just like to make one suggestion. If Obama does indeed mint the 1 trilliion coin, let’s make if really big so it would be hard to lose. You’d hate to the be the guy that misplaced THAT.

and Democrats have serious needs – a debt limit increase, restoration of extended unemployment benefits, etc

Really? Our well paid representatives(D) will stop being paid?

Or will they just have a solid excuse?

Not fixing the debt limit will affect more than Democrats. Many Big Businesses’ revenues will also be affected.

Unemployment benefits — “but, but those nasty republicans, so sorry…(sotto voce: now go away)”

I’ll bet a million Bernanke Bucks that there is already an agreed plan for a ‘last minute’ solution.

Neither Boehner nor Obama appear to have any interest whatsoever in meaningfully cutting the defense/military/intel/security budget. Since that is such a large overall component of discretionary spending, any appropriations of money sufficient for DOD/CIA/DHS/DEA/etc. by default require the major tax/borrowing legislation to spend the money.

The chance to interrupt that funding would absolutely be worth going off the ‘cliff’ in the short term…which is why it Just.Won’t.Happen.

We don’t know yet how he want historians to remember him.

Indeed. Ohama’s legacy? What will it be?
It’s clear that Boehner, Cantor, McConnell and their ilk disregard that. THey just want to win no matter the collateral damage.

Exactly! And, it’s absurd not to do so.

This actually shows some recognition that the fiscal slope is not solely a tax discussion. Even if you solve the tax puzzle, there are lots of other moving parts. Republicans learned that the debt limit gives them real leverage as long as the President doesn’t resort to the Constitutional option, using the 14th Amendment to essentially render the debt limit moot. I’d almost guarantee articles of impeachment in the House in that event.

Which in my mind would be a good thing. Let them impeach him in an empty gesture. From a popularity perspective, it would dig the GOP’s hole deeper. The GOP’s problem is that many of their reps have to be worried about winning primaries against a rabid base before they can even think about the general election. But that base only represents some 15-20 % of the whole electorate.

Moreover, impeachment would have a salutary side benefit–just like the Monica Lewinsky affair took the developing deal to privatize SS in the works between Clinton and Gingrich off the table, because impeachment made Clinton run leftwards to the rest of the Dems, it would force Obama to be more progressive than he would ordinarily be.

In my mind, what should happen is this:

a) No significant bargain before 2013, unless the Repubs cave (which won’t happen);

b) Stand firm in 2013 on all important stuff.

c) If the Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling:

1) mint the coin
2) also claim to be doing this because of one’s constitutional responsibility

d) If the courts rule against the Admin on doing this, then pull a Clinton and shut the government down. Keep the parts open that are necessary, but make sure to play politics and shut down the parts that affect Republican constituencies and donors the most. Let the Repugs get an earful from their donors.

-stewartm

To quote Damon Runyon

The race may not always be to the swift nor the victory to the strong, but that’s how you bet.

“Doomsday Plan” unpopular? Who could have anticipated that?

Moreover, impeachment would have a salutary side benefit–just like the Monica Lewinsky affair took the developing deal to privatize SS in the works between Clinton and Gingrich off the table, because impeachment made Clinton run leftwards to the rest of the Dems, it would force Obama to be more progressive than he would ordinarily be.

Exactly!

Excellent!

Points are all well worded and I thoroughly agree.

I have had “bipartisanship” banged in my head so much that it has become what he wants his Presidency to be. IMnotsoveryhumbleopinion, I think it is a huge mistake. He has had his extended hand slapped so many times it is insane to keep trying it. We need a LEADER not a caver.

All the proposals for a $1T coin that I see are for a platinum ingot with $1 trillion stamped on it. Or possibly multiple ones in $100 billion denominations. Not the sort of thing that gets lost in the couch. Because of its nature, trying to convert it to usable currency would identify the person trying to make the deal; so it has little practical value, except of the metallic value of the platinum (significantly less than $1 T), in actual trade. Its other practical effect besides being a bookkeeping counter is that it would be a hedge against extreme hyperinflation in the metallic price of platinum (which tracks somewhat with general inflation).

Yes, the coin should be made of platinum but should not look like a coin because as NCG suggests it could accidentally end up in a slot machine in Vegas. I suggest it be in the shape of a fresh pile of Bull excrement and placed permanently at the proper end of the Bull on Wall Street.

impeachment made Clinton run leftwards to the rest of the Dems

I noticed the opposite. For example Gramm-Leach-Bliley act repealing Glass-Stegall occurred November 1999. Signing the welfare reform act after vetoing it twice occurred in the midst of Ken Starr’s investigations. And it seemed to me at the time that the rest of the Dems were running rightward as fast or faster than the President.

Put it on Wall Street and it’s sure to be stolen.

Past conduct being a predictor of future behavior:

Barry will:

1) Wimp out
2) Give the rich a tax cut
3) Do what favors the rich and powerful and corporations instead of helping actual people.

That’s the safe bet.

It would be kept as “vault cash” in a vault at the Federal Reserve and would likely have a distinctive size and shape incompatible with current vending machines. It would have a historical significance akin to the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, which isn’t likely to get burned in someone’s fireplace.

I think you’re exactly right. Anything that interferes with the American Death Machine is out of the question.

I noticed the opposite. For example Gramm-Leach-Bliley act repealing Glass-Stegall occurred November 1999. Signing the welfare reform act after vetoing it twice occurred in the midst of Ken Starr’s investigations.

Well “the Pact” sure as hell fell threw.

As for welfare reform…wasn’t that passed during 1996, before impeachment?? I voted for Nader in 1996 precisely because of welfare reform; it looked like the Republican house could go down to defeat because of their unpopularity and welfare “reform” which sold out FDR’s legacy was pushed through by Clinton and the Repugs in tandem to a) help GOP house prospects from their perspective, and b) from Clinton’s perspective, to help Clinton win by a landslide (which he didn’t). The latter was key to me in my voting decision because it seemed that Clinton was more interested in winning re-election by an 18-point margin rather than winning by a narrower margin yet seeing his party recapture the House. As it turned out, Clinton’s reward for helping the Republicans was to be impeached.

As for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, I think that that late-night phone call from Jerry Rubin which stayed Clinton’s veto threat (which would have been upheld, by the previous votes).

-stewartm

Welfare reform was in 1996, but it was still under the cloud of the Ken Starr investigation grinding on and on searching for something, anything impeachable. And it was with the Gingrich Revolution Congress. What Clinton got that Congress to agree to was adequately fund training, childcare, and transportation services to support people on welfare in moving into employment. All of those appropriations were gutted during the W years.

Yep, Rubin lobbied hard for the banks.

Thanks. But, just to be prudent, let’s go woth the ten $100 billion coins. Better safe th han sorry.

And, let’s not let Newt Gingrich anywhere NEAR those coins. I don’t trust that SOB.