Yet at the same time it is just paper, printed up at the decree of the Federal Reserve committee and ultimately destined for the shredder. As if to highlight the point the bank lets you take a bag of the shredded stuff with you as a souvenir.
Cash in and of itself is worthless. That is one of the first hurdles a child faces in coming to terms with economics. Why can't we just print more money and all be rich?
A diligent parent will explain that money has a symbolic value and is only worth the goods and services we are prepared to swap for it.
The trouble is that, these days, that explanation feels a little hollow.
The capacity of the United States to print money is staggering.
In the two rounds of quantitative easing that Bank has completed since the crisis began, the US Federal Reserve has injected something like US$2 trillion into the global economy by buying up worthless bank debt (round one) and US Treasury bonds (round two).
The sheer scale of this process highlights the trouble the US economy is in - or would be in without these life supporting cash injections.
But that scale is also a reminder of the enormous wealth of the United States. The US currency has weakened but it has weathered this dilution in a way almost no other currency on earth could.
So far the Federal Reserve has resisted calls to start a third round despite the prospect that the US economy may be dipping again into recession.
More Fed cash would help President Obama's re-election chances by giving the economy a shot in the arm in time for next November.
Republicans are naturally opposed to this and to any other Federal Reserve stimulus, arguing that austerity and balanced budgets are the only sustainable way forward.
In these times of economic crisis the Fed has become something of a political football.
Governor of Texas and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry took his criticism of the Fed to a new extreme last month suggesting that its policies were so damaging to the long term US interests that they were treasonous.
Unlike the central banks of most modern economies, the Federal Reserve is not actually a state institution although the President and Senate maintain ultimate control through the power of appointment.
There are 12 Federal Reserve banks representing different districts of the US. Each has its own board of directors who can appoint and influence the views of their regional bank president.
However, at any one time, just five of the regional presidents have voting rights on the committee that sets US monetary policy. The balance of power is held by seven bank governors who are appointed by the President and must be approved by the Senate.
In some respects its status as a private institution allows the Federal Reserve more room to wield its political influence.
Certainly chairman Ben Bernanke has more freedom to comment on politics than traditional central bank governors like Alan Bollard.
In response to the roasting he is taking from Republicans in Congress, Bernanke fired back this week attacking the US Congress for its failure to act on the fiscal policy front to address what he called a "national crisis" of unemployment.
"Monetary policy can do a lot, but monetary policy is not a panacea," Bernanke said after a speech in Cleveland, Ohio. "There are certainly some areas where other policy-makers could contribute."
The growing tension between the Fed and Congress makes the relationship between New Zealand's Reserve Bank and both major political parties look pretty cosy.
Labour has threatened to tinker with the Reserve Bank Act.
It could look to broaden its monetary policy mandate beyond a single focus on inflation to include unemployment or some other economic indicator (in fact the US Federal Reserve already has a mandate to target unemployment and inflation).
But nobody is calling Alan Bollard a traitor.
Liam Dann visited Kansas City on the International Visitor Leadership Programme sponsored by the US State Department.
Follow Liam Dann on Twitter: twitter.com/liamdann
