&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Back in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning and the shelter-in-place orders brought the economy to a screeching halt, a quirky-but-clever idea to save the economy made its way up to some of the highest levels of government. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib proposed an ambitious relief &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://tlaib.house.gov/sites/tlaib.house.gov/files/Automatic%20Boost%20to%20Communities%20Act%20.pdf"&gt;&lt;span&gt;bill&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt; to keep the country’s metaphorical lights on: recurring payments to people to help them stay afloat during the crisis. And the way Congress would pay for it? By minting two platinum $1 trillion coins. (You read that right). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;In this episode, we take a jaunt through the evolution of our currency, from the gold-backed bills of the 19th century, to the most powerful computer at the Federal Reserve. And we chase an idea that torpedoes what we thought was a fundamental law of economics. Can we &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;actually&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt; just print more money? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;This episode was reported by Becca Bressler and was produced by Becca Bressler and Simon Adler.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Special thanks to Carlos Mucha, Warren Mosler, David Cay Johnston, Alex Goldmark, Bryant Urstadt, and Amanda Aronczyk. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To learn more about these ideas check out: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stephanie Kelton's &lt;a href="https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/stephanie-kelton/the-deficit-myth/9781541736184/"&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;The Deficit Myth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jacob Goldstein's &lt;a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/jacob-goldstein/money/9780316417198/"&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing &lt;/em&gt;and the &lt;em&gt;Planet Money&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/"&gt;podcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Betsey Stevenson's &lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-like-an-economist/id1523898793"&gt;podcast&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;Think Like an Economist &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;And for a fun quick read, check out &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/01/trillion-dollar-coin-inventor/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;this&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt; WIRED article about the surprising origin of #MintTheCoin.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

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