I think two of the very fundamental issues lying around is TRUST...

I think two of the very fundamental issues lying around is TRUST and CONFIDENCE. This is what the paper currencies are built around. Inflation?

But just how anyone would develop trust and confidence in

1. The FED, which has been continually out to lunch over the last few decades...and the central bankers in general who are not far behind
2. Democratic elected govts which run up huge debts, which they do not have to worry about paying back..leave that to the tax payers/next generations.
3. Bankers, whose fractional reserve system is one of the greatest con jobs invented. Nice work if you can pull it off, and they have.
4. A main stream media who feed off fear and uncertainty and continually appear to miss the point and full story of what is going on...perhaps just to get the next story moving along.
5. Central banks which print money daily, which tends to get misallocated into the equity markets, with perhaps a disproportinate amount going into the financial sectors...who do what with it?
6. Economists who make such basic mistakes as misplacing a decimal point in their excel models, ...models whose assumptions are generally not advertised, even by the economist using the model,...and these are the guys advising democratically elected govts

All of the above

1. When there is so much inequality in developed and undeveloped countries...when is social unrest going to surface?
2. When there is so much unemployment, especially amongst the younger generation...when is social unrest going to really surface?

So hence how can anyone develop trust in paper money? Has the emperor got any clothes on.. I understand he will say he has for as long as he can get away with it. He will probably also argue very convincingly, but in the final details, ... he has not clothes on.

You just have to wonder why do people invest in gold?