When money loses its tether to objective reality, it becomes a hollow, purely subjective instrument. That is the most precise meaning of the claim that “debt-based dollars have no real value.” They hold no value in reality: a hylomorphic phenomenon that accounts for both the fluctuating values perceived by individuals and the objective value imbued into objects through work. Without this foundation, money ceases to be a measure of value and becomes nothing more than a symbol of collective delusion.

— Neal Flesher, Modern Chains (Chapter 8)

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