Excellent 'debate'... Hey Martinghoul - An argument I hear quite often is "Things have gone well with the Fed, so why change? Sure, they do some bad things here and there, they create the business cycle, and perpetuate it to the extreme. But look at our standard of living! Look at our position in the world! It all happened with the Fed controlling monetary policy lo these past 100 years"... Don't you think, even for the slightest moment, that this country became so great IN SPITE OF the Fed, rather than because of it? And that changing it, if not for the possibility of success' sake, but for the Constitution's sake, could be in our long term interests?
Ahhh..the irony. I did listen to you. You're the expert and I'm clueless. And that is just fine. Time will tell all. I shall now take my clueless self and crawl back to my cave.
Maybe America became so great in spite of the Fed, maybe not... I have absolutely no factual basis upon which I can form a judgement about whether the Fed is good or bad for modern US society. A lot of people who are far far smarter than me have created a whole body of research that tries to answer this question. It's my understanding that a majority of these people (mainstream economists) believe that the current system is, on balance, adequate and has contributed positively to growth and prosperity. You may agree or disagree with them, but consider it as a data point. As to changing the system, I completely agree, as I have said a number of times. The glaring flaws and shortcomings of the current setup that became obvious during the crisis absolutely have to be fixed, in spite of the dysfunctional global political process. However, I also believe that the basic monetary/financial concepts that have evolved throughout the majority of the developed world exist for a reason. Specifically, like democracy and capitalism (and public-key cryptography), the economic model we have works, on balance. I also appreciate its complexity and its strengths. Replacing it with an alternative theory that a) might not be viable, and b) we will have a hard time agreeing on, is just bad risk/reward, in my view. I should mention that my opinions are very much formed by my personal experiences. I am a product of a legacy, socialist regime, so I know first hand what it feels like for a society to operate with a completely incompatible economic setup. Moreover, I also know what it feels like to survive the transitional period, when the economic model is "upgraded". I wouldn't wish it on anybody, which is why I absolutely hate the idea of "let's just throw everything away and start from scratch". To me it sounds too much like the lyrics of the Internationale, the official Communist/Socialist anthem.
I don't think I said you were clueless. If I did, I have apologized already and would be happy to apologize again. I lost patience for no good reason. What I did say was that you're not willing to listen to what I am saying. This implies that, regardless of our respective levels of intelligence/ignorance, our discussion is simply pointless. I think you have a view that's motivated primarily by your politics, while you probably think I am just a minion of the current corrupt regime. So we're simply never going to be able to speak the same language. So be it.
That's very possible. However, it's just a complicated way of saying the Fed simply isn't very relevant.
You still don't get it. I want the monetary policy revealed. Open and transparent. BTW, do you work for a government? You have too much time on your hands to have a real job.