Endless: Governments can't start printing gold, but they can make it illegal to own it. That's what the yanks did in 1930s to defend the greenback. They recalled all the gold coins as well. :>
What they did was compulsarily buy gold at $20/ounce, then immediately revalued it at $26 ounce (the actual numbers might be a bit off). Instant 30% increase in their treasury capital backing that fixed a deficit problem.
Confiscation wouldn't work today because most of the gold in the world is owned by Arabs/Indians/Asians, who would be thrilled to have its value double overnight. Also, there's a really good chance that Fort Knox is empty, and the US Fed has been palming off demands for a gold repository audit for some time now.
