Talk politics.

The erroneous premise behind what you said is the belief that gold has an intrinsic value. You are comparing this supposed objective, intrinsic value, with the dollar value of outstanding debt and finding that there is "not enough gold." The thing you are not considering is that there is not enough gold below a certain price. I agree that, for the government, reestablishing the dollar as a denomination for a certain quantity of redeemable gold would be a herculean task, but it would not be economically impossible. People are exchanging dollars for gold today at a rate of about $1750 per troy ounce. I'm not saying this to imply that this is THE "peg" at which the redeemability of the dollar should be set, rather I am pointing out that there is already an exchange ratio in dollars to gold that has not resulted in the strip mining of the planet. People are still willing to exchange gold for some quantity of dollars and vice versa.