Indeed. I stand corrected. I should have been more precise. If a new decreed fiat currency makes gold unusable for trade then even though gold by definition isn't fiat ... it won't hold value in that market. However as you said ... golds value does return as history proves. It is perception and law that changes these true weights and measures.
They're both stores of value. The only difference is that supply of paper is humanly controlled, which changes its value. The value of the paper and the nation's economy depends on how well everything is managed. With gold as an exclusive currency, a country is rewarded instantly for its geographical luck of landing on a huge goldmine even if it does nothing for the world, or if it conquers another country. It could be more undeserved than the current situation with oil countries, because at least oil has a valuable practical usage to offer. Gold is a shiny rock that just sits there.
According to their SEC filings, their gold holdings may be audited (not to exclude other times I that I'm not aware of) by their independent auditors, to verify their financials.
No idea - read that from a cursory look. Considering that their gold count, etc. would be the #1 determinant of the value of the GLD, I would imagine that the auditors might consider that an important metric to confirm.
Indeed. However, looking at it's "supposed" holdings, the GLD fund now supposedly holds almost 1300 tons of physical gold bullion, meaning they supposedly hold more physical gold than China or the ECB, and whose buying supposedly accounted for almost all of the gold production over the past month. Yet when you break down the numbers and facts, something is clearly rotten in Denmark... http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gold-holdings-gld-surge-all-time-record