At least they would not be able to print money. Without that privilege, governments won't be nearly as powerful and corrupt as they are now. It's still not such a bad scenario. You can always still trade gold.
I think his story was tongue in cheek. Remember most of the world currency was gold at one time, then redeemable for gold, then backed but not deemable for Gold, and then finally backed by nothing. History would likely repeat itself. Within 50 years it would be back to pure fiat.