Besides, everything you said, including tax payment and keeping out of jail, also applies to the Venezuelan bolivar and quite a few other fiat currencies that completely crashed in value due to hyper-inflation.
So I don't think those are good arguments for the USD being valuable or having substantial intrinsic value.
Yes, I agree.
> Besides, everything you said, including tax payment and keeping out of jail, also applies to the Venezuelan bolivar and quite a few other fiat currencies that completely crashed in value due to hyper-inflation.
USD will always be valuable as long as the US government exists and taxes its citizens in USD. This means that there will always be demand for USD (again, as long as the US government exists).
I don't think it's wrong to say that the US government is more stable than the other governments that print currencies that are less stable.
For the USD to have value, you need technological innovation and productivity. You need to export more value than you import.
Simply existing and taxing your population does not give your currency value.
However the flammability is a good example of intrinsic value
USD in paper form can also be burned for warmth, or used to write on. In coin form, it has the same intrinsic value as the metal.