Let me ask you something ... What stops a government from...

Let me ask you something ...
What stops a government from printing unlimitied amounts of paper money ??

The amount of currency in circulation should be a direct proportion to the amount of gold held by the government or else the government could continuously print dollars without limit. The Euro, Swiss franc and other currencies have between 20%-30% of notes in circulation guaranteed by the countries gold storage. The US$ is an example of an out of control currency which has lost it's gold backing (no one knows for sure how much gold backs the US$). This is a very simple explanation to what gold was used for originally and that is money, a tradeable and sought after metal before the advent of paper.