If it means anything ill second this guys answer. Dollars have value because they are essentially a share of the US government. Think of it as a non voting share of a company that never pays dividends (however sometimes there are share dilutions and stock buybacks all without any say from the share holders) The value comes from the ability of the government to tax its provences generating profits off the revenue. USD grows in strength when gdp rises because that means the oppertunity of more taxable revenues. So yes a government can print money and generate a profit at the cost of inflating the dollars that are held by the people. But if they get too greedy about it then people wont WANT to hold the dollars any more and they will start trading them away creating a death spiral for the currency. So the government can only inflate as much as people are willing to accept. It is generally accepted that anything over 4% is way to high which is why the Fed is panicking. If people lose faith in the dollar they will start to abandon it. More importantly foreign nations will abandon it which is much more harmful to our economy.