Money by "fiat"

That'd be by an Italian auto maker, right?

Nope, just paper and confidence or ignorance , as the case may be.

The treatment of the economics may actually be simplistic. No gold standard, money by fiat (because we say it is), why would anyone want to hold unbacked paper money. One good reason is if you can buy things of value with that currency, for instance, gold mines, factories, or things that you have the "I wants" for, then it is good stuff to have. Otherwise it is a game of confidence in the currency, or a "con" game. "Simplistic", you say. Yes, but being simple minded I don't have trouble with this. On the other hand, I have read a great deal on this subject by people who preface the matter , "pay attention, this is complicated." That usually means that they do not understand it and are only going to confuse you to match their own state, or to obfuscate by design. Now return to the third sentence until it makes simple sense. I don't have a problem with people collecting profit either. The difference is that I know where the profit is going.