“The history of coinage is indeed, in many cases, a melancholy record of fraud, folly, and ignorance.” So wrote Sir John Lubbock in his classic 1902 book, “A Short History of Coins and Currency.” And I will freely admit that my first reaction, on hearing about the platinum coin, was to nod sagely and tell myself that Lubbock was right.
But as an ever-longer list of people whose views I respect lined up in favor of minting the special trillion-dollar coin as a temporary measure to get around the debt ceiling, I decided to have another look. On somber second look, I was right the first time: It’s a really bad idea.
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