The US now has a fiat currency, which means that for every $20,000 in circulation, in Fort Knox there is a Fiat Stilo. This system replaced the gold standard, which fewer people knew how to drive.
A fiat currency is actually one which is not backed by anything except the issuer saying it's worth something. For example, a $20 bill is only worth 20 times as much as a $1 bill because the US government says so and everybody is willing to go along with it, and these bills are only worth anything because of this agreement. This contrasts with a standard currency, where the issuer has something of generally-recognized value in a vault somewhere, and people could actually redeem their bills for the stuff that backs them. For a long time, the US had a whole lot of gold in Fort Knox, and people could trade in their dollars for the corresponding gold if they lost confidence in the government. This became a major political issue during the early part of the 20th century.
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