> You're still confusing the burden to pay taxes under the penalty of law in one particular country with value. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what

> You're still confusing the burden to pay taxes under the penalty of law in one particular country with value. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what "value" means. It is true that it's stretching it to say taxation gives an 'intrinsic' value to us dollar. Really I would say that the phrase 'intrinsic value' should be reserved for things that are useful for some survival purpose directly, like food, water, shelter, machetes, etc. However, taxation does mean that there is a continued guaranteed demand for us dollars, placing a floor on the price. There is also the fact that having a store of something considered to be legal tender gives you some extra rights to protection from the criminal justice system in that country. So 'intrinsic' is perhaps too strong a claim, but it's guaranteed to have at least some value as long as the US government endures, which is still a pretty good guarantee.