Ultimate Proof The U.S. Dollar Is Worthless

The United States is bankrupt. This is a simple statement of fact. With a relatively puny GDP of (supposedly) $17 trillion; this Deadbeat Debtor already has debts and liabilities exceeding $200 trillion. In the corporate world; such obvious/hopeless insolvency would necessitate an immediate “restructuring” meaning either a complete liquidation of the entity itself, or massive write-downs on its debts.

Yet utter the statement above to a Defender of the U.S. economy, and one will always get the same reply. “The United States can never be bankrupted (no matter how large its debts), because with its printing press it can print-up enough dollars to ‘pay’ its debts.”

There is an enormous, logical fallacy in that assertion. It is the fact that very people understand this logical fallacy which is the only reason that the (worthless) U.S. dollar does not already have an official exchange-rate of zero.

No matter how large its debts; the United States can never be bankrupted. By direct implication; this is an argument which extends to infinity. If the U.S. had infinite debts; it would print-up infinite dollars to “pay off” those debts. How?

Until recently; when we considered the “U.S. dollar” (or any other currency), we would envision a scrap of paper, decorated with a few cents’ worth of ink. Of course today, the vast majority of dollars (or any other currency) are conjured-up electronically. Some banker punches a key on a keyboard, and presto! The world has given birth to a new U.S. dollar (or a billion, or a trillion).

The nation of China produces and/or imports vast quantities of raw materials. The people of China labour diligently to transform those raw materials into a vast array of consumer goods, and then ship those goods across an ocean to the United States. And the United States “pays” for these consumer goods by having a banker punch a key on a keyboard. How? How does punching a key on a keyboard satisfy a debt?

For further insight here; we could start by examining the definition of the word “pay”.

pay

verb

1.   Give (someone) money that is due for work done, goods received, or a debt incurred.

This doesn’t get us anywhere, unfortunately. You “pay” someone by giving them “money”. As with any definition; we’re only given a brief summation. With a definition; we get the surface-meaning of a word, and never what is implied by that surface-meaning. How does giving someone money satisfy a debt? We get firm guidance here by looking immediately beneath the definition (above).

synonyms:  reward, reimburse, recompense

Now we get to the full meaning of “pay”. To pay someone; you must provide them with something of value for their good/service/debt. How does some banker punching a key on a keyboard “reward”, “reimburse”, or “recompense” anyone? Where is the value?

Once again the Defenders of the Dollar have their stock answer for that question. “The U.S. dollar is backed by the full faith of the U.S. government” [please refrain from laughing]. Yes, the U.S. dollar is backed by the “full faith” of a bankrupt government. How reassuring!