Dollar Bills are worth what they are because we all agree that they're worth that. Gold is worth what it is because we all agree that it's worth that. Arguing over it is semantics. People who get all up in arms over the horrible dangers of paper currency being created from nothing don't start hyperventilating if I find a gold nugget in the river and sell it. Which, when you think about it, is pretty foolish. What if we adopt gold as a standard, and next year someone develops a process to extract and purify gold that's dramatically more efficient than previous methods, driving prices down to nothing. A hundred and fifty years ago, aluminum was more valuable than gold. Now we need to be bribed not to throw it in the trash.
The folks who clamor for "stability" in pegging our currency to gold act like they are presenting a solution while in reality they are contributing to instability by actively working to undermine confidence in our present system. I like a lot of what Paul thinks, but he's out to lunch on this issue.