All the recent talk about the trillion dollar coin has revealed to me that we have a perfect solution to the problems of wealth inequality, crushing debt, and the debt ceiling. The solution is to mint not trillion dollar coins, but *billion* dollar coins. Why? I'll explain below:
We all know the uber-wealthy live in a different reality. In their world, ordinary possessions are of trivial value. We read all the time of the fantastical ways they find to spend their money. Here is a fantastical, but incredibly useful, way for them to spend their money. The treasury should mint billion dollar coins that are *restricted* legal tender. By that I mean, coins that, once received, can only be exchanged for billion dollar coins. Each billion dollar coin minted by the treasury would bring in a billion dollars that could be used to pay down the debt. Since a billion dollar coin holder could no longer use that billion dollars to claim a portion of the goods/services from the economy - that particular chunk of wealth would have been effectively neutralized. Even if they arrange to transfer ownership to another individual... Who would hand over a billion dollars to possess a coin they could never redeem? Think about it ... in the world of the uber-wealthy - forking over 10,000 for a cell phone cover is not out of the question. For such people, the chance to hand over a billion dollars and then be able to flaunt that rare - but obtainable coin - would be irresistible. It would be the latest form of ultimate bling - sort of like rolling cigars using $100 bills in the 70s ... At the moment, not enough people could afford a trillion dollar coin. But many people could afford a billion dollar coin. And, things being the way they are, too many people could afford a million dollar coin - so thats too small... I only check in infrequently ( a couple times a day ) so, I apologize in advance for not responding quickly in case somebody feels like commenting to this diary....