Nobody honestly values paper money for what it is, they only value it because it is backed my Gold. And a lot of people love and believe in the power of gold.
Paper money hasn't been backed by gold for 44 years.
I do not understand why backing money with gold is supposed to be good, is not gold the same? Something that has value because people gives value to it? I was told once that (some) indigenous cultures did not worship gold, and those having more of it were not necessarly the richest.
I know it is hard to extract, but there are things more difficult to get. What makes gold so special?