'goldmatters..........and so does silver' - That pun right there is the cherry on top of this post :-)

As you say that the US government did what Romans had done several centuries ago. But this time the consequence are far severe and just limited to one continent.
I wonder how the people would react if the signature from the treasury/central banks of the countries were to be removed from the banknotes. I am sure that there would be a huge uproar but the truth is that the signature on the banknote is just symbolic. It would be a little ironic to hear people protesting on changes in fake money while most people are not even aware of the Nixon shock.