'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.
And we all know how it worked out for the Romans!