Many people still believe that money is backed by gold.

It is not.

It has not been backed by gold since 1971, when President Nixon unilaterally took the world off the gold standard (the Nixon Shock).

See wtfhappenedin1971.com to get a clear picture of the damage this did.

Chart showing Consumer Price Index inflation (red line) vs the purchasing power of the US dollar (black line) since 1971. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL , June 9, 2024.

Fun Fact: The World Economic Forum was formed in 1971.