[EdHominem]

> couldn't print more than it had bars to convert to. And that is the problem.

To be fair, one man's problem is another man's solution. "It can all be taken away" isn't a selling point to the currency's users, only to the issuer.

Monetary policy has always been a tool of governments, but that's been because the people haven't had any practical options other than another government's currency.

Having a flexible layer of fiat lets us have a shock absorber between the markets and the commodities we need to live. But too much of a decoupling and you run into more problems the other way.

It's hurt a lot of people when their government hyper-inflates the currency, or steals much of it back via bank controls, etc.