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The answer to that is a real jaw-dropper.

The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing physically prints all our paper money. But they have only two currency printing offices, in Forth Worth and Washington, D.C. Working around the clock, printing mostly $1 bills, and proportionately fewer $5,$10,$20,$50, and $100 bills, they can only print enough paper money to support just 4% of US daily retail trade.

All the rest of our money is virtual, on computers only. So when they talk about “printing” money, they just mean changing some numbers on the computers.

The zinger is that not only can’t we print more physical dollars, we can’t even print higher denomination money, like $500 or $1000 dollar bills, for the simple reason that nobody could make change for it with other paper money.

The average lifespan of paper money is just six months. And most $100 bills are sent overseas for other nations who want US paper currency.

Now for the weirdness. Because the government can and does “print” endless virtual money, but cannot print more paper money, virtual money has become horrifically inflated, though it is not obvious yet. At the same time, paper money and coin has become 96% *deflated*.

So virtual and paper are so different they may invoke what is called “Gresham’s Law”, and split into two different currencies, as far as the public is concerned.

Gresham’s Law is an “iron law” of economics, which says that when there are two competing currencies, everyone wants to spend the less valuable one and save the more valuable one. An axiom of the law is that if the difference of the value of the two currencies becomes too great, one rapidly inflates and becomes worthless, and the other rapidly deflates and becomes very precious, as the only “real” currency anyone will accept.

So imagine any of a dozen economic crises that cause the virtual US dollar to inflate. But paper money is already very deflated.

If businesses suddenly refuse to accept credit, debit, checks and other instruments, and demand paper money only, suddenly a nickel might be worth a dollar one day and five dollars the next, in real terms, not in comparison with virtual money that is rapidly becoming worthless.

And those with “mattress money” are wealthy overnight, while those with tens of millions of dollars in the bank are as suddenly paupers.