If I was a government, I wouldn't even want to take it back. Storing gold seems like a hassle compared to storing the equivalent value in regular currency.
Really ? Why do governments keep tons of bar Gold then in the first place ? Have you ever seen the actual inflation of paper money over like, 50 years ? 1 Million USD used to be a lot of money back in the 60s-70s, nowadays it's a commodity and 1 billion is rather the new standard of "large sum".
Yes, but is gold's value for the electronics industry anywhere near its market price? The demand seems a lot smaller than the offer (they use about 320 tons/year - http://www.bullionstreet.com/news/electronics-industry-uses-... and the metal is recyclable).