If there's a banking crisis again similar to what happened approx. 70 yrs. ago what would you rather have in your posession.......a FRN that's worth no more than the ink and paper it's made with or a precious metal such as gold or silver? Also, even though this money is created out of thin air.......what do you suppose is the underlying collateral?.....because as we all know bankers are far from being very benevolent when it comes to their money.
A banking crisis wouldn't affect cash on hand. If things got to the point where people were no longer accepting cash for payment, I doubt I could obtain the important things - food, shelter, ammunition - with paper or precious metal money.
The underlying collateral of paper money/Federal Reserve Notes is the Treasury debt held by the Federal Reserve. The collateral on this debt is is "the full faith and credit of the American people" or, more precisely, the power of the government to tax those people to pay its obligations. The collateral for the expansion of the money supply caused by the fractional reserve system is the private debt held by the banks that loan out most of their deposits; in other words, that money is secured by your promise to pay your mortgage, John's promise to make his car payment, etc. So the reserves are backed by government debt, while the remainder of the money supply is backed by private debt.
The only "collateral" are we taxpayers left holding sacks full of IOU's.
My guess is that the largest horde of the world's bullion lies in the vaults of those who conspired to create the Fed.