Very Serious People

As we head to a moment when "mint the coin" is actually the serious option, it's worth remembering how advocates were portrayed as children by very stupid people.

Another problem with the trillion-dollar coin is that the US mint probably doesn't have the capacity to create one out of real bullion, which will likely be required for something with such a historical importance. The US mint no longer produces platinum coins, except in collector's editions that retail for $1,892 at the moment. A real platinum coin – the American Eagle – that was produced as recently as 2009 contains 31.12 grams of platinum and has a face value of $100. There is not enough platinum in the US in a year's supply to create that. The US produces all of 3,700 kilograms of platinum a year.

The mint could, on the direction of Treasury, just make a platinum-finished coin that bears the face value of $1tn, but that would just create a nonsensical level of inflation in the value of the US dollar.

Wow imagine if the Treasury just stamped 1000 on pieces of fancy paper!