RE:Federal reserve The US government seems to be in the unique position of being able to invent money out of thin air . How can you explain that when the US gets in trouble no matter what it is the world resorts to buying US dollars for " safety ! ". Now China holds mountains of US treasuries , mortgages and bonds . How do they get rid of them without upsetting the whole apple cart . Buy gold ? There isn`t enough gold on the planet to cover the US debt . But something has to give at some point .