Would someone please riddle me what the fuck is so awful about the federal reserve?

[JVS]

And I don't mean this as "What is wrong with Ben Bernanke?" which is a question that has been answered quite well. What I mean is that I'd really like to see an articulate critique of how the Fed is to blame for apparently every woe under the sun. But instead of seeing that kind of explanation, I usually see things like the following

1. The Fed is a PRIVATE organization!!!

Technically it's not. The fed is a government organization, but one made in such a way that it can act autonomously to fulfill (or some would say to balance) the three goals of its charter (stable currency, economic growth, low unemployment). This autonomy is important when you consider the next point.

2. The fed isn't accountable to the congress!!!

That's because central banks that aren't autonomous to do their thing without the interference of political interests really suck! If you want to see instability hand the levers over to a bunch of assholes who really don't know what they're doing but who know that they want the economy booming by November every other year. Think long and hard about the kinds of congresscritters we have.


3. They're not fixing the economy.

Ok, this seems fair enough. But the Fed only sets monetary policy. If you believe in monetarism (Milton Friedman's school of economics) then monetary policy should be enough to fix the economy. Most at this website don't buy into monetarism, and instead believe that monetary policy and fiscal policy must be used to fix the economy. Fiscal policy is a matter to be determined by congress and the president. From where I sit, the fed is doing it's part on this but the fiscal policy is lagging.


4. Hurr durr gold standard!

If you think liquidity problems suck now, just look to the 19th century to see how awful they were using gold.


Seriously, what's the big fucking problem?