Could a $1trn coin end America’s debt-ceiling showdown?

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