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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> William Flynn Wallace <foozler83@gmail.com> <br><b>Subject:</b> a good laugh<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>from Krugman's column<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse'><tr><td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>>…<span style='color:#333333'> one possible way out would be to exploit an apparent legal loophole by minting a <a href="https://nl.nytimes.com/f/newsletter/b4dtI5rwAikyBwQmgGZipg~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRjQwZkP0TwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMS8xMC8wMS9vcGluaW9uL2JpZGVuLWNvaW4tZGVtb2NyYXQtcmVwdWJsaWNhbi1kZWJ0LWxpbWl0Lmh0bWw_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MTE2JmVtYz1lZGl0X3BrXzIwMjExMDA4Jmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTQyNDAxJm5sPXBhdWwta3J1Z21hbiZyZWdpX2lkPTY0MTU5Nzc2JnNlZ21lbnRfaWQ9NzEwNjAmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPTVlNzExMzliNzlhYjE0MzNkMDc3MTBkOGY4ODM1NmM4VwNueXRCCmFfZIFgYT_hCG1SE2Zvb3psZXI4M0BnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAA~" target="_blank"><span style='font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#286ED0'>platinum coin</span></a> with a huge face value, say $1 trillion, depositing that coin in an account at the Fed, then drawing on that account to pay the government’s bills<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333'>bill </span><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>w<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Cool, why didn’t we do this a long time ago?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>But platinum is relatively rare, and if they are using up several grams of the stuff every time they need a trillion dollars, why not substitute some other more common material, such as copper or steel?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>If a multi-trillion dollar spending bill can be covered by minting a few copper or steel coins, why don’t we use a roll of those to pay the national debt?  Then we can use a couple a year to replace taxes, add a couple more and carry the US budget.  And if spending doesn’t add to the national debt, we don’t need to increase the borrowing limit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>But this is all US politics.  Please if anyone outside the US has any comments to make, you may feel free to post me offlist.  I don’t want us getting in trouble with ExiMod.  <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Brits and Italians, what does it look like from your perspective?  Why didn’t Britain ever come up with the idea of just minting a trillion pound coin?  Even Zimbabwe figured out this very simple answer to runaway debt: mint the mighty quadringentillion dollar note:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><img border=0 width=635 height=358 style='width:6.6145in;height:3.7291in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D7BC5D.40B28260"><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'>Then sell the quads to American tourists and gag-gift buyers for 3 bucks.<o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'>I learned that a quadingentillion is (1000)^400 or 10^1203.<o:p></o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.75pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>