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It used to be gold. Now it is $1 USD for $1 USD.

That's kind of tautological.

In particular, if you don't buy the whole premise (that dollar bills are US government liabilities), then RobertoG's statement (that "Money is an IOU. That is a promise of something.") is completely unconvincing by itself, without further support. And your "support" is not very helpful.

That's the point though: in some sense it's a circular house of cards. I linked this Edward Harrison piece higher up. Read the first paragraph and think about it for a minute. This is all a dollar really is, and its inherent, fundamental value is nothing other than that it allows you to pay taxes:

https://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/10/currency-revulsion-...

A central point here is the statement that money has no intrinsic value, saying "Money is an IOU" may be understood to mean that, but in a very awkward way, it seem to suggest that something deeper is going on here.

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