# 1 Trillion Dollar Coin?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188 "2013-01-05T19:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/101 "2017-01-19T16:02:35Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > I think they should mint it. Can’t you just see the caper movie? The coin would definitely at some point end up in a vending machine. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/102 "2017-01-19T16:04:19Z")
The days when we were all arguing the merits of the Obamacoin seem so innocent now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/103 "2017-01-20T01:34:07Z")
> [@AlohaBear32](#): > > A > This is actually starting to freak me out a bit…I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to economics, but apparently if both of those measures are legal, how is it that our money has ANY value at all? Post snipped. Our money has value for one reason and one reason only. People think it has value. (Note, there are concrete reasons for that belief, but it is still a belief) If we were to pull something like the trillion dollar coin trick, people would suddenly stop thinking the dollar has value and _ta da_ the dollar wouldn’t have any value. Slee ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/104 "2017-01-20T16:05:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > How is this any different from simply declaring the debt doesn’t exist anymore? That would violate the 14th amendment which prohibits failing to repay federal debt. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/105 "2017-01-20T16:08:29Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Post snipped. > > Our money has value for one reason and one reason only. People think it has value. (Note, there are concrete reasons for that belief, but it is still a belief) > > If we were to pull something like the trillion dollar coin trick, people would suddenly stop thinking the dollar has value and _ta da_ the dollar wouldn’t have any value. > > Slee Not true, money has value because the government requires you to pay your taxes in dollars. So you have to get dollars in order to pay your taxes least you be thrown in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/106 "2017-01-20T16:22:52Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Not true, money has value because the government requires you to pay your taxes in dollars. So you have to get dollars in order to pay your taxes least you be thrown in jail. That’s the difference between money and scrip: if the people who issue the paper accept it back again. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/107 "2017-01-20T22:57:58Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Not true, money has value because the government requires you to pay your taxes in dollars. So you have to get dollars in order to pay your taxes least you be thrown in jail. This entirely misses the point. The fact that you have to pay taxes in dollars has little to do with the value of a dollar. And, additionally, it is possible to live without paying taxes and not end up in jail\*. The dollar used to be pegged to gold. Theoretically, you could take you dollar and go exchange it for actual gold. The money actually represented something physical that you ‘owned’. The U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1931 to let the Fed create more money and completely dropped it in 1971. So now your dollar isn’t backed by anything except the belief that it is worth something. That belief is the only thing that gives the dollar value. There is, presently, a good reason for that belief. However, if the U.S. government were to start creating Trillion Dollar Coins to pay off debts, that belief would disappear and with it the value of a dollar. Create enough TDCs and the dollar becomes worthless because no one believes in its value any longer. So, the value of money is based upon people believing that it has value. The dollar isn’t backed by anything other than this belief which is based on trust of the U.S. government. Slee \*Not easy, or pleasant but possible if you live off of donations from others. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/108 "2017-01-21T07:50:55Z")
The platinum coin was only considered as a last resort, in case the GOP really was being led by a Tea Party insistent on plunging the U.S. Treasury into Bankruptcy Court. I think such a tricky device to circumvent the Tea Party would have been preferable to having the U.S. and its dollar become the laughingstock of the world. YMMV. > [@Lumpy](#): > > If it sounds too good to be true- an accounting trick can make our financial problems go away- it is too good to be true. So much confusion. > [@TonySinclair](#): > > I don’t see anybody claiming that it would make our financial problems go away, but it might keep the Republicans from turning our financial problems into a complete, worldwide disaster. Oops, my reply to **Lumpy** was Ninja’ed 4 years ago by **TonySinclair**! > [@davidm](#): > > That article almost reads like he was talking tongue in cheek. He says that he envisioned some giant “prehistoric” coin that he could roll out. Reminiscent of [the](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones)   [fascinating stone-wheel](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money)  [money of the Yap Islands.](http://www.karlwhelan.com/IMB/Friedman-Yap.pdf) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188/109 "2017-01-21T15:35:49Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > Our money has value for one reason and one reason only. People think it has value. (Note, there are concrete reasons for that belief, but it is still a belief) “Precious” metals similarly only have value because people think they have value. In a post-apocalypse world, a stack of dollar bills could have more value than a gold coin - at least you could burn the dollars to cook a meal or keep yourself warm for a period. A roll of nickels would potentially be more valuable - as a hard metal, you could probably fashion some sort of tool with with - perhaps spear or arrow points. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-trillion-dollar-coin/646188.md?page=5)