[sah2ed]

Not disagreeing with your observation, but to extract gold, you need a mining license which is typically required by law, so in a way governments can still make useful laws that regulate the scarcity or abundance of gold as a commodity by pricing mining licenses accordingly.

Gold ownership was outlawed in the US in 1933 by FDR.

[moreless]

> Gold ownership was outlawed in the US in 1933 by FDR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

EDIT: "The limitation on gold ownership in the U.S. was repealed after President Gerald Ford signed a bill to "permit United States citizens to purchase, hold, sell, or otherwise deal with gold in the United States or abroad" with an act of Congress codified in Pub.L. 93–373,[19][20][21] which went into effect December 31, 1974."