Jeff is speaking facts. Banks issue loans by monetizing debt. The dollar is a centralized and standardized instrument of monetized debt. All debt is collatoralized with assets (this is true of sovereign, secured and unsecured loans), therefore the promise to repay a debt is the mechanism by which an asset is converted into currency. The reason Jeff says "I don't know what money is" is because many things are money, and when you're talking about the dollar its a very complex form of money supported by a network of trust all the way down the individual or business willing to repay a loan. If the phrase "The master will appear when the student is ready" couldn't be more true here. Jeff is the master.