# Republicans think you need $1 trillion worth of platinum in a $1 trillion face value platinum coin **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 9, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642 "2013-01-09T16:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/21 "2013-01-09T23:04:03Z")
[New Data: Americans Hate Congress More Than Root Canals, Cockroaches Or Nickelback](http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/poll-americans-hate-congress-more-root-canals-cockroaches-or-nickelback) Query: can cockroaches constitutionally hold office? Because I’m looking for a write-in vote for next election. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/22 "2013-01-09T23:16:14Z")
Thankfully, Nickleback is Canadian, so we don’t have to worry about them becoming president. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/23 "2013-01-09T23:48:10Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Ever try spending a $1 trillion coin? First the clerk looks at you funny and calls over his supervisor. Then they point out the sign that says “only $20 in change in the register.” It’s not like I was trying to run the guy out of ones. I specifically asked for billion dollar coins as change. I had even added a pack of gum that I didn’t need to my purchase just so I wouldn’t be wasting the guy’s time! > > It’s nothing but a big hassle, I tell you. In 1893, Mark Twain published a story called “[The Million Pound Bank Note](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Pound_Bank_Note)” about an American sailor stranded in London who was given a note of that value by two rich brothers who were trying to settle a bet. (If the story sounds familiar, that may be because it was made into a [film starring Gregory Peck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Pound_Note) and also because it partly inspired another film called [Trading Places](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Places).) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/24 "2013-01-10T00:12:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Actually, if my math is correct, Titanic could have carried that much platinum. At current prices of about $1600 an ounce, if my math is right (and it might not be) $1 trillion worth of platinum weighs about 20,000 tons Well, since we’re nitpicking (and fact-checking retarded memes, apparently :)), it would probably end up weighing a lot less than that, since buying that much platinum in bulk would rapidly drive its price per weight further up than if you’d loaded it in a Saturn rocket. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/25 "2013-01-10T00:36:20Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In 1893, Mark Twain published a story called “[The Million Pound Bank Note](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Pound_Bank_Note)” about an American sailor stranded in London who was given a note of that value by two rich brothers who were trying to settle a bet. (If the story sounds familiar, that may be because it was made into a [film starring Gregory Peck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Pound_Note) and also because it partly inspired another film called [Trading Places](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Places).) A bit off topic, but I understand the largest US Note issued was $100 thousand. It was used between federal reserve banks. I think I was told they were used into the 1960’s, but my memory may be off on that. [http://www.ask.com/wiki/Large\_denominations\_of\_United\_States\_currency?qsrc=3044#.24100.2C000\_bill](http://www.ask.com/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency?qsrc=3044#.24100.2C000_bill) ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/26 "2013-01-10T01:34:36Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m a liberal, and I’m for minting one $1 trillion dollar coin for every one trillion dollars of debt run up during a Republican Administration featuring the face of the President who presided over the running up of debt. No need for that, just put a horse’s head on one side and Donald Trump on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/27 "2013-01-10T01:40:25Z")
I wonder why they don’t want the coin made of a more valuable metal, like plutonium? I mean I know why, but I’d almost be surprised if they did. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/28 "2013-01-10T02:20:30Z")
Plutonium isn’t a metal like we are used to: solid, durable, etc. But being made of plutonium would that people who played around with it paid a price. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/29 "2013-01-10T02:28:34Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > A bit off topic, but I understand the largest US Note issued was $100 thousand. It was used between federal reserve banks. I think I was told they were used into the 1960’s, but my memory may be off on that. > > [http://www.ask.com/wiki/Large\_denominations\_of\_United\_States\_currency?qsrc=3044#.24100.2C000\_bill](http://www.ask.com/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency?qsrc=3044#.24100.2C000_bill) The Bank of England currently issues [£1,000,000 and £100,000,000 notes](http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/s_ni_faq.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/30 "2013-01-10T02:31:28Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > At current prices of about $1600 an ounce, if my math is right (and it might not be) $1 trillion worth of platinum weighs about 20,000 tons. Hm. 1. **Is** there that much platinum on Earth? (I mean, of course, has that much been dug out of the crust?) 2. How big would the coin be?! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/31 "2013-01-10T02:32:37Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > I wonder why they don’t want the coin made of a more valuable metal, like plutonium? A trillion dollars’ worth would be well over critical-mass for fission, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/32 "2013-01-10T02:35:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hm. > > 1. **Is** there that much platinum on Earth? (I mean, of course, has that much been dug out of the crust?) > > 2. How big would the coin be?! Buck provided the answers in Post 6. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/33 "2013-01-10T02:41:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _thinks for a few hours_ > > **RTFirefly** , my first friend, I am sorry to report that our odds are only one chance in seven. Then bring on the clown makeup! I’ll do it, by Bog, or my name isn’t Manuel Garcia O’Kelly Davis! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/34 "2013-01-10T04:45:20Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yeah, that amount of platinum might be enough to tip Guam over. Yay, false equivalency! The gaffe you’re referencing was a stupid remark from a single backbencher Democratic representative. The stupidity in the OP is by the NRCC, supposedly part of the party leadership. Almost every time you folks manage to nutpick something a Democrat said to supposedly counter something stupid a Republican said, it’s some nobody backbencher, if not a STATE-level backbencher. We don’t even have to nutpick…there are enough prominent, national-leadership Republicans espousing and legitimizing insanity and stupidity right now that we don’t even have to bend over to pick them off the ground. They jump into our baskets eagerly. This is a major reason why the Stupid Republican Idea of the Day thread is umpty-billion pages long and the Stupid Liberal Idea of the Day thread is idling in the slip. ---
**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 10, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/35 "2013-01-10T05:15:36Z")
I realize we’re in the wrong forum for serious discussion … BUT … the U.S. Treasury and Fed Res do own a lot of gold bullion which is “on the books” at a price of $35/ounce or so. The U.S. could set a more realistic price and “deposit”(\*) the gold with the Fed for a credit in the ballpark of Trillion plus. Has this been discussed? Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be repeatable. Trillion-dollar fiat coins could be minted repeatedly until control of Congress is wrested from the lunatics, but U.S. only has only a trillion or two dollars worth of gold. What would be the follow-up? Sell the Interstate Highway system to the Fed? :smack: (\* Trivium: According to Wikipedia, although 500 rail cars were needed for the 1937 initial deposit of gold at Fort Knox, technically the gold was sent by “registered mail.” 😕 Is this just another Wikipedia hoax?) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/36 "2013-01-10T05:18:24Z")
It doesn’t strike me as particularly hoax-ish out of the box. Back in those days a lot of mail went by train. ---
**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 10, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/37 "2013-01-10T05:30:01Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yay, false equivalency! The gaffe you’re referencing was a stupid remark from a single backbencher Democratic representative. The stupidity in the OP is by the NRCC, supposedly part of the party leadership. > > … We don’t even have to nutpick…there are enough prominent, national-leadership Republicans espousing and legitimizing insanity and stupidity right now that we don’t even have to bend over to pick them off the ground. They jump into our baskets eagerly… Good point. The Idiot/Lunatic coalition constantly cries “Your side has dummies too!” but their attempts to show examples just demonstrate the wrongness of their meme. In another thread, to counter the fact that GWB invaded Iraq to fight the Gog and Magog of _Revelations_, a GOP fan countered with Joe Biden forgetting a constituent’s mother’s maiden name, or some such. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/38 "2013-01-10T05:45:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I tried going the extra step of finding out the rough dimensions of a coin that size, I hope my math was right … if it was, the coin would have to be somewhere near a foot thick with a 32 foot diameter. That’s not a coin, that’s a **monument!** Wait . . . Washington, D.C. . . . that could **work!** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/39 "2013-01-10T06:48:17Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Well, since we’re nitpicking (and fact-checking retarded memes, apparently :)), it would probably end up weighing a lot less than that, since buying that much platinum in bulk would rapidly drive its price per weight further up than if you’d loaded it in a Saturn rocket. Sure, and this leads to an even better situation. Once you have bought the half million or so ounces of platinum you need to make the coin, you basically have all the platinum in the world. Which means you have a monopoly of the platinum market. With no competition, you can then set the selling price of platinum at $1 trillion per ounce. Of course, no one is going to buy platinum at that price but who cares? Because what you do next is to mint a half million $1 trillion platinum coins. And then sir, you are set for life. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642/40 "2013-01-10T07:53:40Z")
I don’t think the Republicans would much care for the Washington Monument: silly make work program. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-think-you-need-1-trillion-worth-of-platinum-in-a-1-trillion-face-value-platinum-coin/646642.md?page=3)