For a long time I feel like money is just a promise. It bears no value really. Money used to stand for a portion of a nation wealth in gold, and gold has value, as it is a physical thing. Then, money became representative of a nation reserves in dollars, which in turn is a representation of the US wealth in gold. Today, dollar and gold have no longer a direct relationship, so does money and value. A loan is just me telling other people to believe you have money. A debt is merely a promise that you will pay me back in the future. The US being the owner of the dollar “factory” allows them to give credit to people and waive the debt latter. It is up to the other countries to devalue the dollar.