[Deuce]

The majority of people....trust the government to protect our financial system. (This is the real concept of fiat: it is not the law, but the trust in the issuing government.)

Your comments demonstrate a lack understanding of what fiat means. Fiat implies an arbitrary order or decree. Here's a quick history: For 5000 years, money was defined as some standardized commodity (usually gold and/or silver) which served as a standard of value, medium of exchange, and storage of value. Much much later, fiduciary paper money was introduced wherein an issuing authority promised to pay real money in a written promise. 70 years ago (30 internationally), a full-fledged fiat currency replaced both commodity and fiduciary currency. Fiat currency promises nothing to nobody in no particular timeframe. Such a currency serves only the issuer.

[antidisestablishment]

Thanks for the lesson in redundancy, but your textbook definition simply ignores current economic reality. The fact that we have a well-established fiat economy seems to escape hard currency ideologues.

How do you propose we convert today's fiat (debt) to tomorrow’s hard currency? Shall we declare a Jubilee as in the Old Testament or do you propose monetizing the debt with a hyper-inflated commodity?

Before you go into a tirade, let me assure you I have no bias against hard currency—in fact I support it heartily. It's just that the money changers own the temple and they are not likely to give it back without a struggle...