In the Washington Post this week, I noted that if the president could really create a trillion dollars out of thin air simply by minting a magic coin, why would he stop at one? He could mint 17 and eliminate the national debt — or 18 and have a trillion-dollar surplus.
Well, apparently Jon Stewart had the same reaction, declaring on his Comedy Central show, “If we’re going to make shit up, I say go big or go home. How about a twenty-trillion dollar coin?”
That did not go over well with the magic coin’s chief proponent, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Krugman blasted the comedian for “a lack of professionalism” in mocking the magic coin idea, adding, “Those people look dumb to me… he’s ruining his own brand.”
Last night, Stewart fired back, declaring, “First of all, I’m pretty sure that is my brand. And second of all, if somebody is ruining their brand with a trillion-dollar coin idea, I don’t think it’s the non-economist.”
It’s a rare pleasure to see a liberal economist duke it out with a liberal comedian. Like Henry Kissinger on the Iran-Iraq war, you’re kind of rooting for casualties. Watch the back and forth here:
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Paul Krugman & the Trillion Dollar Coin | ||||
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Sadly, even at an AEI blog, it is Jon Stewart who gets to set the standard for political humor. I think if James Lileks were liberal, people would have noticed that he had already “gone over” this stiff ahead of Stewart and funnier (this was from the print edition of National Review which was also later posted online)
https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/337365/keep-change
The coin was simply a ruse to get around Congress’ authority. Of course, it makes no real economic sense. Just when you think Krugman can’t sink any lower . . .
who actually suggested it? I don’t recall Obama threatening to do it.
is this a self-created right wing boogeyman?
I don’t know who the very first person to float the idea was, but Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) was the loudest voice in Congress and Paul Krugman was the one who talked about it the most in print. I’m not sure whether these people qualify as right wing boogeymen.
no those two are not… but most of the downstream chatter has been from the likes of the right wing media…
not sure Obama has ever mentioned it at all.