Despite what you might think, despite what the pundits might say, the coin of the realm in this country isn't back by anything. That is to say, dollar bills whether in your wallet or in your bank account or in your paycheck are fiat currency, in which, the word "fiat" is the Latin word, standing for "let it be done", which basically signifies that the country that issues such currency has done so through the declaration that this currency is the legal tender of that country, but its value primarily comes from the belief of those that utilize it, that this currency medium has lasting value, which relies upon the faith that the people and institutions have in the credit worthiness and sustainability of such a currency, however, remember the caveat that fiat money, by definition, isn't backed by anything other than the faith and confidence that it will continue to be a valid store of value, now and into the foreseeable future.
The fact that fiat currency is widely accepted, almost without controversy, in America as well as throughout the world, in which the dollar is considered functionally to be the world's reserve currency establishes incredible monetary power for the United States, because all other major currencies are either implicitly or explicitly pegged against the dollar, and most international trades are conducted utilizing the anchor of our American denominated currency. In effect, since the world revolves around America's fiat currency, this essentially means that the backers of such a currency, the Federal Reserve, which, despite its name is a non-governmental banking consortium, are able to benefit from their power position of being in the driver's seat of currency markets, exchanges, and trades.
The United States is well aware of its global monetary power, and in recent decades, has allowed its own fiscal house, to deteriorate to such an extent, that America has the largest cumulative debt of any country in the world, more than twice as high as Japan, in which America's debt is over $20 trillion dollars and counting. While experts will state that America is also the world's largest economy, its GDP to debt ratio as reported by tradingeconomics.com is as of 2016 106.1% and inexorably climbing, whereas, its GDP to debt ratio was once as low as 31.7% back in 1981.
The reason why our country's debt load matters is that when the time comes, where there is that reckoning of our fiat currency, which is not only the coin of the realm in America, but represents the world reserve currency, the downfall or devaluation or re-pegging of this currency to something of intrinsic worth or value or stable reliability, will have worldwide implications, that will be catastrophic for the stability of society, but not just American society, but catastrophic throughout the entire world, because when things that are valued by the US dollar or essentially fixed to it in function, end up disintegrating, especially at an uncontrollable pace, the ruin to country's fortunes and people's fortunes will be calamitous.
Those that believe, ignorant or not, blithely unaware or not, that fiat currency is somehow typically a true and lasting store of value, will find sadly that it is not, so that monetary assets that appear to have a great storage value, of reasonable stability, such as our dollar has represented throughout its life as a currency, will for a certainty discover that it when it really does not, by virtue of the collapse of this great monetary edifice, which is inevitable, that only those in the know, will benefit, and they will benefit enormously, whereas all others will find that their worth has become decimated, and the civil unrest that will ensue, will bring forth martial law, which will last until such time as the people capitulate wholly to those that hold the purse strings and the guns.