Reply #177: Um, the FED is only as democratic as the culture within which

[coalition_unwilling]

it is situated. I would actually argue that the FED is under the control of technocrats who often perform far worse than the anonymous "elites," because technocrats substitute ideology for real-world experience. Thus, the Fed since 1981 has exhibited a weird fixation with controlling inflation . . . at the expense of other equally valid societal goals like full employment, reductions in poverty, and so on. Former Fed chair Paul Volcker, a hero to many on DU, broke inflation on the backs of the working class, a fact that is often conveniently forgotten here at DU. Take a look at the unemployment rate in December of 1981 and today's unemployment rate, while horrible, starts to seem not so bad by comparison.