> To what end?
Stopping inflation. The idea that my money is worth less today than it was yesterday is ridiculous. It's not a store of value, and violates one of the three tenets of currency.
> exacerbate wealth inequality
This does not strike me as a reason not to pass a policy. It is true only because Americans are by-and-large spendthrifts. We have gotten away from saving and personal responsibility. Maybe we wouldn't see the large increases in housing prices etc. if we didn't have this runaway creation of fake value based on leverage. I don't think it's sustainable, the economy is overheating, and we will hurt for it. Stagflation proved keynesianism wrong; time for a different approach of the government out of the economy.
More importantly, inflation is already a huge tax on the poor and unbanked. Every one else can recover at least some of the inflation tax; these people cannot.
Finally, deflation may not be as bad as every one thought. [0]
> If you don't trust the government to administer the fiat supply, why on earth would you trust them to administer a gold-backed supply?
I do in part, but there is no reason banks could not issue their own gold certificates. More importantly, the government is not the monolith as which you address it. The fed is separate and independent, and would fill this job (although I still would dispute the constitutionality of a federal reserve, some degree of weaning is probably necessary). This would reign in the profligate spending of the American congress, as the supply of loanable funds would shrink. It would also mean we can't just screw pension funds and individuals by inflating our way out of the problem. The wealthy can personally invest in the market and manage their own money (or hire those smart enough to do so), while every one else pays. Here's an excellent paper with more info: https://mises-media.s3.amazonaws.com/qjae11_1_1.pdf
Finally, inflation tends to encourage economic "fake growth". This is the kind of "growth" shown by sv unicorns, by hedge funds during an expansion, by those who push around rather than make money. Too much fake growth -> overheated economy -> a broader crash. Changes of that sort give the most powerful and most opportunistic the opportunity to profit rather than those with real value to contribute.
> And then what, we mine one asteroid [1] and your gold pile and all the money associated therewith is worthless?
By then we could probably switch over to a (non-bitcoin) crypto-currency. Though I'd blanch at the idea of the gov't creating one now, as it would be doubtless be used to track all spending to "combat money laundering" or some baloney.
My overall point is that we've taken the wrong approach to the economy. We've let this lefty-keynesian approach lure us away from a laissez-faire system with short-term gains and false promises of growth.
[0]: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/111715/can-def...