Paul Krugman, "Lust for Gold": What Happened to Krugman's Magical Platinum Coin?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Lust for Gold" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/opinion/krugman-lust-for-gold.html), Paul Krugman concludes:

"But the runaway inflation that was supposed to follow reckless money-printing — inflation that the usual suspects have been declaring imminent for four years and more — keeps not happening. For a while, rising gold prices helped create some credibility for the goldbugs even as their predictions about everything else proved wrong, but now gold as an investment has turned sour, too. So will we be seeing prominent goldbugs change their views, or at least lose a lot of their followers?

I wouldn’t bet on it. In modern America, as I suggested at the beginning, everything is political; and goldbuggism, which fits so perfectly with common political prejudices, will probably continue to flourish no matter how wrong it proves."

I'm no goldbug. (You know where my money is invested.) But peculiar how Krugman has already forgotten his magical platinum coin.

In a January New York Times op-ed entitled "Coins Against Crazies" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/opinion/krugman-coins-against-crazies.html), Krugman proposed that the federal government should mint a platinum coin to eliminate Republican meddling with Obama's spending spree:

"Here’s how it would work: The Treasury would mint a platinum coin with a face value of $1 trillion (or many coins with smaller values; it doesn’t really matter). This coin would immediately be deposited at the Federal Reserve, which would credit the sum to the government’s account. And the government could then write checks against that account, continuing normal operations without issuing new debt.

. . . .

[I]t’s the president’s duty to do whatever it takes, no matter how offbeat or silly it may sound, to defuse this hostage situation. Mint that coin!"

As best explained by Jon Stewart (see: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/15/jon_stewart_responds_to_krugman_platinum_coin_is_still_a_stupid_fcking_idea/), the idea of minting a trillion dollar platinum coin was a "stupid f#%*ing idea."

Gold bad, platinum good?

Four legs bad, two legs good?

Thanks once again, Paul, for the light entertainment. Now back to digging holes in my garden.