Chasing Paper 2.0
The Grand Deception That Nobody Talks About
By Shane Shipman • December 6, 2025
We’ve all heard people say “the dollar is fiat” or “money is printed out of thin air.” Most people repeat that, shrug, and go back to scrolling.
But almost nobody actually understands what that means — and that’s where the real deception hides. So before I get into the deeper part of this, let’s start with the simple foundation almost nobody learns:
1. Today’s Money Isn’t Backed by Anything Real
There was a time when dollars represented gold. That ended in 1971.
Since then:
- $1 does not represent gold
- $1 does not represent silver
- $1 only represents belief in the system
That’s what “fiat currency” means: money that only has value because the government says it does. If everyone stopped believing in it tomorrow, it would instantly be worth the same as the paper it’s printed on.
2. The Government Creates Money by Typing Numbers
Most people imagine there’s a vault somewhere full of money. There isn’t.
When Congress spends more than it takes in (which is every year), here’s what actually happens:
- The U.S. Treasury issues bonds
- The Federal Reserve buys them
- The Fed adds new dollars into the banking system with a keystroke
No gold leaves a vault. No silver is moved. Nothing physical balances out. The money simply appears.
3. Banks Create Even More Money Out of Nothing
This is the part that really melts people’s brains.
When you get a loan:
- The bank does not take money from someone else’s account
- The bank does not hand you stored savings
- The bank literally creates new money by typing it into your account
And that newly created money goes into circulation and becomes part of the economy. This is not a conspiracy. This is literally how the system works.
So Here’s the Part Nobody Talks About
If the dollar is a piece of paper backed by nothing, and Europe’s euro is backed by nothing, and Japan’s yen is backed by nothing… then what are we actually trading when we compare them?
How can two piles of “nothing” have an exchange rate?
Nothing divided by nothing shouldn’t equal 0.93 euros or 145 yen — it should be undefined. Mathematically impossible. Yet entire TV networks argue about which brand of nothing will be “stronger” next week.
The only way this keeps going is if every major government silently agreed decades ago: “We will all pretend our currencies have value, and we will never break character.” No secret meetings required — just the survival instinct of politicians and central bankers.
Gold Was Supposed to Be the Escape
Gold used to be the “real thing” behind money. But then the financial markets invented paper gold — contracts representing gold that doesn’t physically exist 1:1. Estimates point to many more paper claims than actual ounces. The price still gets quoted, but the physical metal hardly moves. The casino operates above it.
Bitcoin Was Supposed to Be the Escape
Bitcoin gave people hope: money you control yourself, outside the system. Then Wall Street created ETFs. Then custodians. Institutions now hold Bitcoin on behalf of millions. The rebellion got absorbed into the same system it aimed to escape.
The Reality That Should Make Everyone Stop
We work 40–60 hours a week to earn digital numbers that are created by people we’ll never meet, with rules we never voted for, and can be changed or deleted with a keystroke. That’s not exaggeration — that’s the actual mechanism. Your anger isn’t paranoia. It’s pattern recognition.
But Most People Don’t Want to Hear It
Tell someone their money is really just a global trust exercise backed by thin air, and they get annoyed at you instead of the system. Not because it’s wrong — but because it’s uncomfortable. People would rather scroll celebrity drama than confront the single fact driving 99% of their financial stress.
Maybe that’s the real trick: they don’t have to hide the truth. They just make it boring.
So What Do We Do?
Not protests. Not revolutions. None of that will fix the foundation. Instead, the only real solution is quiet and personal:
- Own things that can’t be printed
- Reduce how much of your life you have to sell to survive
- Build systems small enough to avoid control
- Hold your own keys (physical or digital)
There won’t be a hero riding in to fix money. There will only be individuals — one by one — walking toward things that are real: one ounce, one satoshi, one garden, one private agreement, one skill that can’t be inflated.
Empires of fiat always collapse under their own contradictions. They always have. When this one does, the only question will be: Do you still own something real when the music stops?
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