The USA toiled in debt for some time, and this debt seems like it is not going to diminish at all, as it resurfaces again and again. The seemingly impossible repayment of this huge debt is worrying many people, but as long as the USA is able to avoid defaulting on it, everything is fine. Joe Biden wants to increase the debt ceiling, but the majority of the House of Representatives which mostly consist of the Republican Party members is against this policy and is hindering Joe Biden. This is why the idea of a $1 trillion platinum coin emerged.
The Total Debt of the USA is Around 32 Trillion Dollars
How the USA is still making ends meet is a mystery that spans a few decades, as the country’s debt increased even more rapidly than before after the 2008 financial crisis. But the bulk of this humongous rise mainly happened during the Covid restriction period of 2020-2022.
The exact amount of debt of the USA is 31.7 trillion dollars. Now, a struggle to increase the ceiling has recurred in order to avoid a default on payment for the country. This default, however, is deemed as inevitable and the Secretary of State Treasury Janet Yellen is stating that it could happen in June 2023.
Janet Yellen brought the idea of a platinum coin with a face value of $1 trillion that was already suggested by her during the Obama presidency because of the same reasons regarding the debt ceiling. However, Joe Biden’s administration, as it is being held back by the Republican majority of the House of Representatives, is struggling to deploy this measure.
Is This Platinum Coin Really Backed by Platinum?
According to the current price of platinum, the troy ounce (exactly 31.1 grams) trades at around $1100. Therefore, it would take a coin weighing 28,571 tonnes of the precious metal to be worth its weight in platinum. The $1000 billion dollar coin of the White House, therefore, can not carry the weight previously stated. Also, as Bitcoin.com reports, this “unusual tactic” would be exploiting a loophole that allows the US Treasury Department to mint platinum coins of any value.