According to these statements by Dr.Nouriel Roubini, people who advocate a return to the gold standard are "Lunatics and Hacks".
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/roubini-supporters-gold-standard-lunatics-hacks-181958239.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DailyTickerRss+%28Yahoo%21+Finance%3A+The+Daily+Ticker%29
He has a point: before 1913, the USA were not on a gold standard, but gold was indeed money. The Dollar was a defined unit of gold itself and Dollar bills had language on them that allowed their redemption into gold at any time.
The introduction a the gold standard, by inception of the Federal Reserve and its vast expansion of the money supply, made the redemption of paper Dollars into gold impossible.
Sure, the illusion of redeemability was upheld to cover up that the Fed had in effect stolen the gold from the people. When it finally came to a situation that people wanted to redeem their paper, thereby rendering the Fed bankrupt, the government simply declared ownership of gold illegal.
Roubini is right: Only gold is money. Government promises on the other hand have a long history of not being honored.
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