Gold is an extremely volatile commodity, so it would probably be unwise to try and return to the gold standard. In fact, gold seems to me to be a perfectly arbitrary standard, why not some other precious metal, or something completely different?
Fiat money 'works' because it facilitates trade and the OP states, the true value of labour decreases continuously with inflation. Die-hard capitalists will argue that inflation is compensated by pay rises. This is of course not the case, as all of us who have to work for a living know very well.
I have no ready answer, but this site
DollarCollapse.com - Getting Started is an interesting, albeit a little doomsday, read and contains some good links.
Perhaps an avenue to explore would be a Tobin tax?