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>The dollar bills you hold in your wallet are nothing less than 'certificates' indicating that the US government has a liability of the amount shown on those do
by VT_Drew 11y ago
>The dollar bills you hold in your wallet are nothing less than 'certificates' indicating that the US government has a liability of the amount shown on those dollar bills, payable to the holder of those dollar bills.
Except dollars are no longer backed by anything. So the governments liability is nothing. What are they going to do trade you a dollar for a dollar? It is literally just paper. It is a stretch to still think of it as a 'certificate'.
- jrs235 11y agoIt's a certificate that can be traded to offset taxes. But yes, the government can inflate its value away to next to nothing.
- seoguru 11y agodollars are tax credits.
- ellius 11y agoEdward Harrison has good piece on this and the concept of "currency revulsion": https://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/10/currency-revulsion-2.html https://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/10/currency-revulsion-...