>the American dollar has no intrinsic value and was really just as bad as the banks he was avoiding

That's the part that I have trouble wrapping my brain around. If something terrible happens and the FDIC is insolvent, or the U.S. defaults on its bonds, or the stock market loses 90% of its value, or whatever explodes with any of the other things that people are recommending, then the paper money under your mattress is going to be utterly worthless too. Hoarding it doesn't avoid the consequences of the types of systemic failures they're worried about.