Trillion dollar coin, greenbacks, or something else? The president has not just the right, but the DUTY, to pay our debts, despite the unconstitutional debt-ceiling imposed by Congress. There is broad support from economists, the constitution and fairness.

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(Article originally published here on January 22, 2013)

United States Note by Wikipedia Commons

Possible Trillion Dollar coins by Washington Post

*** Update October 17, 2013***
Well, we narrowly escaped a debt default...again.   But like the Terminator, the debt ceiling will be baaaccckkk...  It'll be back in January, in fact.  so, it's worth reviewing the president's true options before then.

The following article was published last January, when it seemed like we were last going to hit the debt ceiling.  I wish things had changed so that this article was dated and obsolete, but alas, here we are again.  This is in spite of increasing evidence that the Founders believed the national debt should be paid, always and completely.
Others have testified before Congress that the president does not have the authority to violate Congress' debt ceiling, but this analysis is incomplete. 

The only things that have changed is that there are now even more commentators insisting that the president has options to defeat a recalcitrant, dysfunctional, contradictory, Congress that may, in a matter of days, violate the constitution by not providing the means necessary to pay the country's existing bills.  However, the president (and not Congress) is ALREADY violating the constitution by subverting the will of Congress in paying for some authorized things and not others, and needs to stop immediately, before his credibility is eroded even further by nit-picking, sound-biting, Congressional Representatives who stage photo-ops at closed WWII memorials, while allowing children on food stamps to go hungry off camera. 

Whether it is with a Trillion Dollar Coin - or, as Joe Firestone has recently suggested, in an over-reach that borders on the ridiculous, while still being technically legal, a $60 Trillion dollar coin - or, as more reasonably suggested more recently by Rep. Alan Grayson but originally by former Representative Ron Paul, simply canceling $2T of the Fed-held debt we owe to ourselves, the president has several good and perfectly legal options.
For more details on other options and their justification, even necessity, read on....

From January, 2013
While it looks as though the Republican-controlled Congress will back down and postpone the debt ceiling for at least three months, and then take a self-imposed pay freeze if no budget is approved after that (undoubtedly a much more popular option among voters who give Congress just a 14% approval rating, near the lowest in history, 10%, measured just last August - despite being in violation of the 27th Amendment prohibition against any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of the Congress from taking effect until the start of the next set of terms of office for Representatives), this represents yet another in a series of lost opportunities for our DINO president.

The joke of the self-imposed debt ceiling is that it has been raised dozens of times since first being self-imposed in 1917, making the "ceiling" more of the "next floor in the debt tower." (UPDATE - a recent NY Time editorial makes it clear that the president can just ignore the ceiling altogether: click here). The newest proposal to go under the ceiling is a trillion-dollar coin (TDC).  This is a workable, if guffaw-inducing, somewhat wonkish, solution to the problem.  Support has come from Paul Krugman, ex-regulator of the 1990s S&L crisis Bill Black, Blogger Joe Firestone, Economist Dr. Michael Hudson, MMT co-founders Randall Wray and Warren Mosler, Ellen Brown, former head of the US Mint and co-author of the platinum coin law, Philip Diehl, Representative of NYC's 10th congressional district, Jerry Nadler (I spoke to Nadler recently at a political gathering and explained why Greenbacking would be an even better idea -- see below), and many others.  There is a loophole in the commemorative coin Act of 1982, which allows coins of any amount to be minted, even though the rest of the act preventing coins from being minted in other amounts is certainly unconstitutional and not even practiced.  We have had commemorative coins worth thousands of dollars in the recent past, well after the 1982 act, in fact.  Commemorative coins have been quite a lucrative sideline for the mint, generating millions in seigniorage (the face value of a coin minus the cost of producing it) value for our Treasury.   This is very much what the practice of creating commemorative coins was intended to do, and should put to rest the obsolete and fallacious argument that face value of coins has anything to do with their inherent value.

The coin would be issued by Treasury, and under the coinage act of 1792, and many revisions beyond, we don't have to pay a private bank for the "privilege" (read: RIGHT) to make coins (thank goodness). What this would do, of course, and what terrifies the banks, is to show how money is actually created, why we can't "run out of money" and why the private central bank or its member banks should not have a monopoly to "coin Money."   Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives that power to Congress, and never mentions banks.  Plus it would show that wealth inequality is a result of a money monopoly, not because those with all the money are so "smart" or "productive." They are mostly neither of those things, just in the rent-seeking class, able to extract wealth from the productive class through legal and financial manipulation, while doing nothing productive themselves.

Furthermore, some form of direct money issuance by Treasury is actually REQUIRED constitutionally, when Congress blocks the funds necessary to pay for what it has already approved. From Article 12, Section 9, clause 7:

"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriation made by Law; and a regular Statement of Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time."

The president, and certainly not the Treasury Secretary, doesn't have the authority to pick and choose what to spend an insufficient supply of funds upon. The executive branch cannot choose a bit from column A and a bit less from column B and so on.  It must spend 100% of the authorized amount for repayment of the debt, just as it spends 100% for the military, Social Security, the highway system, and so on.

The president must spend what he has available, and if prevented from borrowing, either direct Treasury to issue a TDC, or direct Treasury to issue debt-free U.S. Notes (aka Greenbacks) to pay everything BUT the debt.  By law going back to the original legal tender act of Lincoln, Greenbacks cannot be used to pay down the federal debt, but they CAN be used to pay all other outstanding debts for goods and services, leaving the rest of the Federal Reserve created money to pay down the debt. This legal enjoinment is undoubtedly unconstitutional, but instead of challenging it, the president should go along with it and use the new Greenbacks to pay for Social Security, infrastructure, and any other expense that cannot be met with an insufficient supply of money available under the debt ceiling. In short, if Congress will not allow the money to be created, the president should do it himself.

In fact, it is the executive branch, whether the president or the Treasury, and not Congress, that is in violation of the Congress' authority under the Constitution to "tax, borrow and spend."  The executive branch does not just have the "authority" to execute the will of Congress to spend on thing Congress has mandated, it has the requirement to do so. 

What other support for this alternative does the Executive have when Congress has imposed an artificial debt ceiling preventing the Executive from spending to fulfill Congressional requirements, or, more accurately, those requirements that have ALREADY been met but simply not paid for (a violation of contract law with every vendor that is "stiffed")?  Well, the requirement to pay the debt under the 14th Amendment has already been much discussed.

Amendment XIV, 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.

Amendment XIV, Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

However, completely unmentioned is a much older precedent set forth in the Constitution's original Article VI which says:

"All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation."

That is twice, once immediately after the Constitution was adopted, and again, after the divisive Civil War, that the American government has specifically promised to repay its debts in the constitution, a continuing document of rights and obligations, even at a time when debts were more onerous than now.  This is a pretty clear precedent.

At the height of the Civil War, when the NY banks wanted 24-36% interest on loans to the U.S. Government, president Lincoln, and the then Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, created United States Notes, directly from Treasury, debt-free, with (after the first year) no redemption in species (gold) but simply as money.  The principal need not be repaid, and never specifically has been, despite a SCOTUS 8-1(!) ruling in 1884 in Julliard v. Greenman that this was only allowable under the "borrowing clause" of the constitution.

The White House has refused to consider progressive reform such as Dennis Kucinch's N.E.E.D. Act (HR2990), which would return America to its longest-lasting currency, the United States Note, despite having a Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, who is a Republican, who called for that very thing in a more modest infrastructure-financing bill (HR1452) as a Congressman in 1999 and again in 2003-2004. 

This is an even better option than the TDC because it shows ANY kind of money, coin, paper, and even electronic, can be "coined" to pay for those things Congress has already mandated.  The Treasury's Report on the Debt (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/ govt/reports/pd/mspd/2010/ opdm092010.pdf  page 11) forbids U.S. Notes from being counted toward, or being used to pay toward, the debt. 

Other Debt (in millions):

Not Subject to the Statutory Debt Limit:

United States Notes................................................................ 239

National and Federal Reserve Bank Notes assumed by the United States on deposit of lawful money for their retirement ......................................................65

Silver Certificates (Act of June 24, 1967)....................................172

Other..................................................................................... 11

Total Not Subject to the Statutory Debt Limit............................. 488

Subject to the Statutory Debt Limit:

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Company Tax and Loss Bonds....... 215

Other................................................................................... 637

Total Subject to the Statutory Debt Limit...................................852

Total Other Debt..................................................................1,340

Fine.  Let this questionable law stand.  Use the authority to spend the Treasury account in Federal Reserve Dollars toward the debt, while using U.S. Notes to pay for everything else that there is insufficient funds in FRNs to pay for.  This will make it clearer than anything where and how money is actually created.

The president has not just the option to do this, but also the requirement.  He would just be following the constitution, something this so-called constitutional scholar has repeatedly failed to do.

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Here is most of the letter I hand-delivered to Representative Jerry Nadler's office a day after we met. It contains a summary of the advantages of U.S. Notes.  I have not yet received a reply:

January 22, 2013

Dear Congressman Nadler:

It was a great honor to meet you at the Progressive NYC launch party last night.  With your platinum coin idea, you have solidified your reputation as a true progressive, unafraid to think outside the box, a rarity in politics. 

To summarize our discussion on Greenbacking last night, these are some of the advantages and features of issuing debt-free money, direct from the Treasury Department:

1.  The money does not have to be borrowed from the Central Bank by issuing Treasury bonds, which carry interest.  The seigniorage savings is in the hundreds of billions/year.

2.  Congress can issue any amount, at any time, for any reason, under the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8, "coin Money" clause (see Robert Natelson's paper from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, "The Coinage Clause in the Constitution" http://www.economicstability.org/history/the-coinage-clause-in-the-constitution).

3.  President Lincoln DID issue $450 million in United States Notes (aka Greenbacks) in 1862-1863 to fund the north during the Civil War, when NY banks wanted up to 36% interest.  This money was up to 40% of the currency during the height of the war, at a critical time for our nation (then, as now, the banks cared more for their own profit, than for the nation's well-being).

4.  The Supreme Court, in a series of legal tender cases, but culminating in Julliard v. Greenman, by an 8-1 ruling, affirmed the right of the Federal Government to create money itself in 1884 (before there was a Central Bank).  This ruling stands today.

5.  United States Notes continued to be produced, in 14 total series, until 1972, and the stock was not fully burned by Treasury until 1996.  Even now, Treasury estimates there are $239 million of them in circulation (including the $5 note I showed you last night, which cost twice face value on eBay).  U.S. Notes were our longest-lasting form of currency.

6.  According to the Treasury Department, United States Notes CANNOT legally be used to pay down the debt, going back to Lincoln, so they are not subject to the debt ceiling - see:

"Monthly Statement of the Public Debt of the United States"

and this is a feature, not a bug, because....

7.  Trillions in United States Notes, or their electronic equivalent, could be issued to produce FDR-scale public works projects, creating real, good, middle class jobs to, for example, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. 

8.  This new money would not be inflationary if issued within reason, because, according to the Federal Reserve, money in circulation is STILL some $3 Trillion less than it was before the 2008-09 crash.  We would simply be restoring what was lost due to bad credit creation by the banks.

9.  Two recent bills - HR1452 (from then-congressman Ray LaHood, 1999, reintroduced in 2003-04 as HR4371) and HR2990 (Kucinich, present), attempted to issue new U.S. Notes to augment or, in the more recent case, replace, existing Federal Reserve Notes.  LaHood's bill is the simpler one, basically a transportation bill creating $350 billion "to provide for noninterest bearing loans of the money so created to State and local governments solely for the purpose of funding capital projects."  However, the new money does not have to be loaned at all, but can simply be issued into the real economy (see #8).

10.  Although U.S. Notes cannot directly pay off the debt, the tax revenues generated by businesses and individuals newly employed in public works projects, CAN be used to pay the debt.  Eventually, the surplus could retire the debt, forever.  A sovereign United States need not borrow its own money, at all.

11.  Our nation's bond rating, so critical to low borrowing costs if we continue to borrow, would actually be improved.  S&P, Moody's etc., would see that we have the wherewithal to pay our bills, and to create low levels of unemployment and an improving infrastructure for the future.  Our rating should return to AAA and stay there.
 
This is a lot to take it, I know, but I have studied alternative economics for 4 years now...taken a dozen economics courses, read everything I could and discussed these theories with economists like Dr. Michael Hudson, Dr. Mason Gaffney, and very many more.  I am now the president of Common Ground-NYC - a Georgist economics group - and New York Coordinator of the Public Banking Institute, where we discuss these changes regularly and try to reach out to people like you to implement them.

America is not broke, and indeed there are 10s of trillions of dollars in real, or creatable, assets, just waiting to be tapped for the common good.
I welcome the chance to discuss these issues and more with you in the near future.

All the best,

Scott Baker - President: Common Ground - NYC; NY State Coordinator: Public Banking Institute; Opednews Blogger/Senior Editor; Huffington Post Blogger; Author

Authors Website: http://newthinking.blogspot.com/

Authors Bio:

Scott Baker is a Managing Editor & The Economics Editor at Opednews, and a former blogger for Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and Global Economic Intersection.

His anthology of updated Opednews articles "America is Not Broke" was published by Tayen Lane Publishing (March, 2015) and may be found here:

http://www.americaisnotbroke.net/

Scott is a former and current President of Common Ground-NY (http://commongroundnyc.org/), a Geoist/Georgist activist group. He has written dozens of articles for Common Ground's national publication, GroundSwell, and has advocated for the Georgist Land Value Tax to public and political audiences.

A complete list of his publications can be found here:

Click Here

He is also New York State Coordinator and Senior Advisor for the Public Banking Institute

Click Here, which seeks to promote Public Banking. The PBI is chaired by another OEN blogger, Ellen Brown.
Scott has appeared on TV/Radio and in in-person Presentations to explain the principles of Georgism, Greenbacking, and State Banking. These may also be found on his personal blog: http://newthinking.blogspot.com/

Scott has a dozen progressive petitions on Change.org which may be found here:

http://chn.ge/10nUAmJ

Scott was an I.T. Manager for a major New York university for over two decades where he earned a Certificate for Frontline Leadership.

He had a video game published in Compute! Magazine: Click Here

Scott is a graduate and adjunct faculty of the Henry George School of Social Science in New York City.

Scott is a modern-day Renaissance Man with interests in economics, science and all future-forward topics.

He has been called an "adept syncretist" by Kirkus Discoveries for his novel, NeitherWorld - a two-volume opus blending Native American myth, archaeological detail, government conspiracy, with a sci-fi flair http://amzn.to/10nUoDV

Scott grew up in New York City and Pennsylvania. He graduated with honors and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and was a member of the Psychology honor society PSI CHI.

Today he is an avid bicyclist and ride co-leader in a prominent bike advocacy organization.

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