The gold standard sucks. But don’t take it from me. Take it from the hardcore libertarian economist Milton Friedman

Central banks added 650 tons to their reserves in 2019, the second highest shift in 50 years, after the 656 tons added in 2018. Before the 2007-09 financial crisis, central banks were net sellers of gold worldwide for decades. Leading the recent spree has been China, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Do you know why they're doing that?

That's why the US should only store gold. It gives tangible value to currency so people aren't afraid of the government just printing more money, adversely affecting the economy. If the gold supply wasn't given to foreign countries, or better increased, then there would be only an increasing economy in Milton Freidman's ideology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hik8bv6EnBI

Also, I'm pretty sure the Great Depression was only extended by the excess government spending that made people more reliant on the government.

We were on the gold standard at the time of the Great Depression and the other big economic shocks of the 19th-20th century — a big reason why they happened.

More on this here

https://www.aei.org/economics/monetary-economics/the-gold-standard-please-stop/

Peter Rousseau, an economic historian at Vanderbilt University, says that independent central banks can control the money supply with paper money far better than they could with gold. - From your link
They could do better, but they don't. When the Fed runs the electronic printing press at full speed, and keeps interest rates below the rate of inflation, the working class is denied even a modicum of lube.