I'm Felix Sermon and welcome to Axios Recap, where we dig into one big story.

Today is Wednesday, November 17th, and we're focused on the trillion dollar coin.

Yesterday afternoon, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came out with her best guess for the X date.

This is a really big deal.

This is the date at which if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the government will run out of money.

If that happens, that raises the prospect of a

default on the government debt, which would be utterly catastrophic, and she has said, could cause

a major global financial crisis. So, one of four things needs to happen on or around December 15th,

which is less than a month away, number one, Congress does the right

thing and raises or suspends the debt limit. Number two, Congress does not do the right thing,

but the government just keeps on spending money anyway, saying that it is constitutionally bound

to continue to do so. Number three, the government defaults on its debt. Yikes, we really don't

want that. Or there is a fourth option, which is that the government mince a trillion dollar coin,

deposits it at the Federal Reserve, and gets a trillion dollars of new spending money without

increasing the national debt. Now, Janet Yellen has

called that a gimmick. Is it a gimmick? I'm going to talk to former US Mint director Philip Deal

to find out whether it's a gimmick or not. That's coming up after the break. I'm joined now by

Philip. Welcome to Axios recap. This is... I'm joined now by Philip Deal.

Philip, welcome to Axios Recap.

This is an exciting conversation.

Let's just start with your bona fides here.

You ran the US Mint when?

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