c8162c9e
From: capjackharkness@gmail.com
On Friday, January 11, 2013 8:20:00 AM UTC-5, Hass wrote:
> On Jan 11, 6:39 am, Ubiquitous wrote:
>
> > Last week's tax hikes, massive as they were, were far from sufficient to
>
> > balance the federal budget. So the federal government continues to borrow
>
> > money and soon will require Congress to authorize an increase in the
>
> > legal limit on debt. As in 2011, Republicans say they plan to use this
>
> > necessity as leverage to force cuts in spending.
>
> >
>
> > Democrats, for their part, are again suggesting two ways of working
>
> > around the debt limit. The proposals are so implausible, we are skeptical
>
> > that they can even be taken at face value.
>
> >
>
> > The first was floated last week by New York's Rep. Jerrold Nadler and is
>
> > described by Politico: "President Barack Obama should order that a couple
>
> > of platinum trillion-dollar coins be made and then have the coins
>
> > deposited in to [sic] the Fed and, voilą, debt ceiling crisis averted."
>
> >
>
> > There's a statute authorizing the minting of platinum commemorative coins
>
> > that is worded vaguely enough that it seems not to preclude coins in
>
> > absurd denominations. The idea for a trillion-dollar instrument seems to
>
> > have originated with a 1998 episode of "The Simpsons," titled "The
>
> > Trouble With Trillions," in which the FBI sends Homer on a mission to
>
> > recover a trillion-dollar bill, issued just after World War II (when a
>
> > trillion was real money!) to fund reconstruction of Europe, but stolen by
>
> > Mr. Burns.
>
> >
>
> > (Incidentally, from Wikipedia we learn that "the original draft of the
>
> > plot was much different. Originally, Homer was to learn that he was a
>
> > Native American, and would try to exploit it to not have to pay taxes.
>
> > The idea had been going well for a few days, but the staff did not
>
> > actually know whether Native Americans had to pay taxes." This plot, too,
>
> > seems to be playing out in real life. The Boston Herald reports that
>
> > Elizabeth Warren, who early in her academic career advertised herself as
>
> > 1/32nd Cherokee, "won't be taking advantage of a chance to officially
>
> > list herself as the Bay State's first Native American U.S. senator.")
>
> >
>
> > The coin idea was thrown around during the last debt-limit debate too. As
>
> > NPR noted at the time, former Enron adviser Paul Krugman was dismissive:
>
> > "It appears to be legally possible . . . to mint a $2 trillion platinum
>
> > coin, which is ridiculous, but the whole debate is ridiculous, right?"
>
> > Yet now Krugman is pushing the idea. But his arguments for it are so
>
> > preposterous that we'd be sure he was putting us on if he'd ever shown
>
> > any sign of having a sense of humor:
>
> >
>
> > One [objection] is that it would be undignified. Here's how
>
> > to think about that: we have a situation in which a terrorist
>
> > may be about to walk into a crowded room and threaten to blow
>
> > up a bomb he's holding. It turns out, however, that the Secret
>
> > Service has figured out a way to disarm this maniac--a way that
>
> > for some reason will require that the Secretary of the Treasury
>
> > briefly wear a clown suit. (My fictional plotting skills have
>
> > let me down, but there has to be some way to work this in). And
>
> > the response of the nervous Nellies is, "My god, we can't dress
>
> > the secretary up as a clown!" Even when it will make him a hero
>
> > who saves the day?
>
> >
>
> > As thought experiments go, this one is a real head-scratcher. For one
>
> > thing, when it comes to preventing actual terrorism, Krugman thinks (or
>
> > thought in 2009, writing about the Bush administration) that
>
> > extraordinary measures not only are uncalled for but are "crimes." For
>
> > another, the fictional scenario Krugman uses as an analogy is, if
>
> > anything, even more fanciful than the idea of the trillion-dollar coin.
>
> > Unlike Krugman, we have a fine imagination, but it fails us in trying to
>
> > imagine a circumstance in which it is even remotely plausible to imagine
>
> > a Treasury secretary stopping terrorism by wearing a clown suit. So in
>
> > attempting to argue that the idea is worth taking seriously, Krugman only
>
> > reinforces its absurdity.
>
> >
>
> > The other idea comes from the top House Democrat, as the Puffington Host
>
> > reports:
>
> >
>
> > House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged the
>
> > president on Sunday to . . . simply bypass the upcoming
>
> > debate over raising the debt ceiling by deeming the entire
>
> > cap unconstitutional.
>
> >
>
> > Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Pelosi offered her
>
> > strongest endorsement to-date of the 14th Amendment option,
>
> > which holds that Congress doesn't have the power to use the
>
> > debt ceiling as a hostage-taking device because the validity
>
> > of the debt "shall not be questioned."
>
> >
>
> > PuffHo quotes Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, as saying:
>
> > "This administration does not believe that the 14th Amendment gives the
>
> > president the power to ignore the debt ceiling--period," Not only is
>
> > Carney right, Pelosi's argument is frivolous.
>
> >
>
> > The relevant section of the 14th Amendment is Section 4:
>
> >
>
> > The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized
>
> > by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
>
> > bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,
>
> > shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any
>
> > State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in
>
> > aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States,
>
> > or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but
>
> > all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal
>
> > and void.
>
> >
>
> > The purpose was to ensure that Union debts from the Civil War would be
>
> > paid, while creditors who lent money to the Confederacy would get
>
> > stiffed. But the wording of the amendment makes clear its broader
>
> > applicability.
>
> >
>
> > The 14th Amendment clearly does not authorize the executive branch to
>
[continued in next message]
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