Fiat money works extremely well to accelerate an economy that is structured and positioned to grow. It does not work so well if an economy is not so structured. Where fiat money/capital debt issuance is directed into productive assets and infrastructure and that infrastructure delivers a return over time fiat makes sense and grows wealth. This is what China has been doing for the last 40 years. The proof is in serial and exponentially growing trade surpluses. Where fiat is used to pump consumption and already existing asset prices it is being squandered and only creates a false and temporary sense of wealth, while building a toxic legacy of parasitic debt. This is what the neoliberalised west has been doing for 40 years. The evidence is in exponentially growing trade and fiscal deficits. Understand the difference if you can get over your US exceptionalist, Libertarian cultural biases and self serving hype.