In early 2013, when the United States came close to experiencing a “fiscal cliff,” one politician proposed introducing a trillion dollar coin to be minted by the government and sent to the U.S. Treasury to pay down the federal deficit (“Economics Is Platinum: What the Trillion-Dollar Coin Teaches Us,” Bloomberg.com, January 14, 2013). If such a coin were to be minted, what would be the likely effects on inflation? Is this a risk-free way of paying off a fiscal deficit? Why or why not?