According to information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by the Huffington Post, Barack Obama seriously considered the idea of minting a trillion dollar coin to “pay” the way for him to unilaterally increase the U.S. debt ceiling. A 1996 law supposedly empowers the Treasury to mint a platinum coin of any denomination, which could then be used to meet government obligations even if Congress refused to raise the debt ceiling. Evidently, Obama was serious enough about the idea that he had the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel draft memos providing legal justification. Our only question is why stop at $1 trillion? Why not just pay off the debt with a $17 trillion coin?