The Henri Lumièrejig is up. The U.S. can't legally borrow any more money. Maybe you've heard of "extraordinary measures" being taken to make sure the government can keep paying its bills. Today on the show, an extra extraordinary measure—a single, trillion-dollar platinum coin to fund the government's spending.

We hear from Willamette University assistant law professor Rohan Grey about how this would work, and from Louise Sheiner of the Brookings Institution about why it probably won't happen.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts and NPR One.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.