America's debt ceiling

美国的债务上限

Could a zany proposal help avert a debt crisis?

一个滑稽的提议能帮助美国度过债务危机吗？

“IT IS A mining rock of such resistance, that it is not easy to cut with the force of blows on a steel anvil.” So wrote Antonio de Ulloa, a Spanish traveller to America, about platinum in 1748.

“这是一块耐力非常好的矿岩，用钢砧的冲击力也是不容易切割的”。前往美国的西班牙旅行者安东尼奥·德·乌洛亚在谈到1748年的白金时如是写道。

Such an image may resonate with those frustrated by regular showdowns over America’s debt ceiling.

这样的形象可能会引起那些经常因美国债务上限问题较量而挫败的人的共鸣。

Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, has said the country risks running out of money by October 18th if the federal-debt limit is not raised, something that the Republicans had been unwilling to countenance doing.

财政部长珍妮特·耶伦表示，如果不提高联邦债务上限，美国可能会在10月18日之前耗尽资金，而这是共和党人一直不想看到的。

On October 6th, as The Economist was going to press, Mitch McConnell, the Republicans’ leader in the Senate, offered to stop obstructing a small rise in the debt ceiling, which would put off the issue until December (see United States section). But a deal is yet to be done.

10月6日，就在《经济学人》即将出版之际，参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔提出停止阻挠小幅提高债务上限，这将把问题推迟到12月(见美国部分)。但协议尚未达成。

Platinum is at the centre of a more unorthodox campaign to avert a debt crisis.

为了避免债务危机，白金正处于一场非正统运动的中心。

In 1996 Congress directed the United States Mint to begin a commemorative coin programme.

1996年，国会指示美国铸币局开始一项纪念币计划。

This included minting gold $5 coins depicting George Washington, and silver $1 coins to mark the 125th anniversary of the creation of Yellowstone National Park.

这包括铸造描绘乔治·华盛顿的5美元金币，以及纪念黄石国家公园创建125周年的1美元银币。

But in 2010 Carlos Mucha, a lawyer, argued that he had found a loophole in the legislation.

但在2010年，律师卡洛斯·穆查辩称，他在立法中发现了一个漏洞。

Whereas the Mint may not produce gold and silver coins in denominations of more than $50, no such limit applies to platinum coins.

虽然造币厂不能生产面额超过50美元的金币和银币，但白金币却没有这样的限制。

In 2011 a campaign began to encourage the Treasury Department to mint a “$1trn coin” as a way to sidestep a row over the debt ceiling.

2011年，一场运动开始鼓励财政部铸造一枚“1万亿美元硬币”，从而避免在债务上限问题上发生争执。

The campaigners argued that the coin would be “money” rather than “debt”, and that the Treasury could hand it over to the Federal Reserve in return for the right to draw down funds, in order to keep paying the bills while politicians haggled over the debt limit.

活动人士辩称，这枚硬币将是“钱”而不是“债务”，财政部可以将其交给美联储，以换取提取资金的权利，以便政客们就债务上限讨价还价时还可以继续支付账单。

Social media have made the idea something of a meme this time round.

这一次，社交媒体上这一想法进行了一轮传播。

The proposal has been promoted enthusiastically by a small core of supporters on Twitter using the hashtag #Mintthecoin.

这项提案在推特上得到了一小部分核心支持者的热情宣传，他们使用了Mintthecoin的标签。

Nobel prizewinner Paul Krugman has lent his support to the campaign, despite conceding its “gimmickry”; two Democrats in the House of Representatives, Jerry Nadler and Rashida Tlaib, are in favour.

诺贝尔奖获得者保罗·克鲁格曼表示支持这场运动，尽管他承认这是一种“噱头”；众议院的两名民主党人杰里·纳德勒和拉希达·特莱布也表示支持。

There is nothing to suggest that Ms Yellen or others in President Joe Biden’s administration back the idea. Barack Obama, who ruled it out during the debt-ceiling crisis in 2013, has alluded to it as “wacky”.

没有迹象表明耶伦或美国总统乔·拜登政府中的其他人也支持这一想法。在2013年债务上限危机期间，巴拉克·奥巴马也对此表示反对，并暗指这个想法是疯狂的、古怪的。

But Senate Republicans were sufficiently worried to have tried to introduce legislation to close the loophole in February this year.

但参议院共和党人非常担心，他们曾试图在今年2月提出立法来填补这个漏洞。

If the coin were minted, it would not have to contain $1trn-worth of platinum bullion (currently around 30,000 tonnes).

如果这枚硬币是铸造的，它就不必含有价值1万亿美元的白金金条(目前约为3万吨)。

But the legal and constitutional obstacles to the scheme would be significant.

但该计划面临的法律和宪法障碍将是巨大的。

Neil Buchanan of Levin College of Law argues that the coin would still be subject to the debt ceiling, and believes that any attempt to mint it would face court challenges. The coin could also undermine the established norm of Fed independence.

莱文法学院的尼尔·布坎南认为，这种硬币仍将受到债务上限的限制，并认为任何铸造这种硬币的尝试都将面临法庭的挑战。这枚硬币还可能破坏美联储独立性的既定规范。

George Selgin of the Cato Institute, a think-tank, points out that, by dumping a huge non-interest-bearing coin on the Fed, the net effect of the plan would be to reduce the central bank’s net interest income and, potentially, to create a situation in which the Fed is more financially dependent on Congress.

智库卡托研究所的乔治·塞尔金指出，向美联储抛售一枚巨大的无息硬币，该计划的实际效果将是减少中央银行的净利息收入，并可能造成美联储在财政上更加依赖国会的局面。

Yet past political brinkmanship has led to higher interest payments and, in 2011, a sovereign downgrade.

然而，过去的政治边缘政策已经导致更高的利息支付，并在2011年导致主权评级下调。

A default could have much graver consequences because of the key role Treasuries play in the global financial system.

由于美国国债在全球金融体系中扮演着关键角色，违约可能带来更为严重的后果。

This is why some observers think that, for all its flaws, the coin proposal is worth keeping on the table.

这就是为什么一些观察人士认为，尽管硬币提案存在种种缺陷，但它仍值得讨论。

Mr Buchanan argues that, even if the scheme is illegal, it might be worth risking court challenges and adopting it, if the government needs to buy time.

布坎南认为，即使该计划是非法的，如果政府需要争取时间，仍然值得冒着被法庭挑战的风险采用它。

That, he says, is the risk the Biden administration took when it recently extended a moratorium on rental evictions, first introduced last year.

他说，这就是拜登政府在最近延长去年首次出台的暂停租房驱逐令时所承担的风险。

Whether the government would ever take such an unusual step as minting the coin, though, is far from clear.

然而，政府是否会采取铸造硬币这种不同寻常的举措，目前还远不清楚。

But one of the lessons of the past few years in Washington may be that ideas that once seemed unconstitutional or downright bizarre can go on to become reality.

但华盛顿过去几年的教训之一可能是，曾经看起来违宪或完全离奇的想法可能会变成现实。

来源：经济学人