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Have to agree with your point, but... why previously create such a huge amount of IOUs? Why not let gateways create them after receiving the real funds? I don't get it.
I'm not sure I follow. OpenCoin isn't creating any IOUs (
XRPs are not debt). Gateways should only issue IOUs in amount equal to what they have on deposit. I imagine that as Ripple gains acceptance, one of the ways that a gateway will establish trust is to use open-accounting systems to prove that they have not over-issued IOUs. With Bitcoin it's easy to audit a public address in the block chain.