Money gets created in the USD economy all the time, whether by invented debt, cash printing, or the issuance of bonds. Does that money actually represent wealth? Does the USD economy actually contribute anything of value?
So let’s say you wanted to permanently remove value from the USD economy for some reason. What’s the most effective and impactful way to “burn money?” Not spend it. Not acquire it. Destroy it, with the goal of taking that value out of the economy.
Burning/ shredding physical cash seems really inefficient. Maybe the answer lies in devaluing real estate?
This is all hypothetical so assume whatever resources or labor you want.
For the record the US Treasury does actually physically burn real money. When bills become too degraded, have errors, or generally aren’t fit for circulation they need to be removed. They usually contract with an outside disposal company and the process is overseen by the secret service. Usually biomedical waste services have the necessary secure procedures and equipment to properly incinerate cash