Throughout history, most currency, including the US dollar, was linked to valuable commodities and the amount of it in circulation depended on a government's gold or silver reserves.

But after the US abolished this system in 1971, the dollar became what is known as fiat money, meaning not linked to any external resource but relying instead solely on government policy to decide how much currency to print.

Which branch of our government sets this policy?
The Executive,
the Legislative,
or the Judicial?
The surprising answer is: none of the above!
In fact, monetary policy is set by an independent Federal Reserve System