[aMorePerfectUnion]

Meanwhile in the US, the same situation reigns. We no longer have defined dollars, but “Federal Reserve Notes.”

... and people diss bitcoin.

[dfwgator]

"That's as good as money, sir. Those are I.O.U.'s. Go ahead and add it up, every cent's accounted for."

[unixfox]

When it boils down to it, and it will, the only things that will matter are those you can eat, drink, smoke and shoot.

[SVTCobra03]

Fiat currency is debt. Gold is money. Silver is currency. 5000 years of history cannot be denied.

[CodeToad]

Federal reserve notes are no longer even an IOU as there is nothing they owe you.

Federal reserve notes are 100% fiat currency based on nothing with nothing backing them.

[cornelis]

Where is von Mises when you need him?

[Toddsterpatriot]

Just consider what might happen if mortgage holders realised the money the bank lent them is not, really, the life savings of some thrifty pensioner, but something the bank just whisked into existence through its possession of a magic wand which we, the public, handed over to it.

I guess they could default, and get foreclosed. Or continue paying.

Of course, in the US, banks are lending trillions to our Central Bank, not borrowing.