I got to say I'm impressed. Credit where credit is due, he nails why Democrats should forget the platinum coin.
"If not taken off the table, the trillion dollar coin option makes it much more likely that the US will go over the “debt cliff.” That is, more likely that Congress will not vote to raise the debt ceiling by the deadline. This is because the GOP doesn’t want to be blamed for forcing the US government to default, and hence is reluctant to do so. Nor do they want to force the administration to suddenly cut off spending for the military, Medicare, Social Security, etc. So their threats are empty."
"On the other hand the GOP would be happy if the Obama administration adopted the coin option, as it looks like a crazy idea to the average American. It would be a wonderful political issue for the GOP in the 2014 elections. So they’d be far more likely to push the US over the debt ceiling if they thought that it would lead to a trillion dollar coin that would be acutely embarrassing for Obama, rather than a debt default that would be acutely embarrassing for the GOP."
"And that is why the Obama administration will not use the coin option. On its economic merits I think it’s a good idea. However, if I was Obama’s political advisor I’d urge him to loudly reject the idea for political reasons."
http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=18585&cpage=1#comment-218993
That's the whole key: the GOP threat is empty. So there's really no need to bother with minting a coin or invoking the 14th-or for that matter, losing any sleep over it. There is no showdown. No negotiations, not ordeal. At some point the debt ceiling will have to be raised and if the GOP really didn't vote to raise it they may not ever win an election again.
Nor is any distraction from gun control or immigration. There's no balancing of priorities as there's no weight at all from the debt ceiling. Congress will raise it as some point. There's nothing the President can or should do about it in the mean time.
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