Well, I'm not per se advocating a gold standard. I would prefer a free market for money, or at least a non-corrupt monetary system that puts budgetary constraints on the political class. It could be gold. It could be almost anything. But I oppose our unethical monetary system for many reasons, not least of which is the great hollowing out of the middle class, or the forever war our congress is now free to vote for, unconstrained by budgets.

There's a great essay by Warren Buffett's father on how the gold standard forces congress to make sound fiscal policy.

https://www.peakprosperity.com/forum-topic/human-freedom-rests-on-gold-redeemable-money/

I know the fashionable view today is of Modern Monetary Theorists who believe that monetary stewardship doesn't need any real constraints, but I disagree. The long list of currencies in the monetary graveyard seem to support my view that reckless governance has consequences. I would also argue that it's the poor and middle class who seem to bear the brunt of inevitable currency crises, and more to your point, that endless credit (aka, debt) for the middle class has not improved their standard of living. You might notice that household debts have skyrocketed just so middle class America can maintain their standard of living while wages haven't kept pace. Far from helping the middle class, "credit" has chained most middle class workers to debt service they can barely keep ahead of.

A fictive, corrupt and politically managed monetary system might not tell the whole story, but it hits the major plot points.