I agree with you that printing money and giving it equally to all people is a whole lot better than printing money and giving it to banks. The former is just ba

I agree with you that printing money and giving it equally to all people is a whole lot better than printing money and giving it to banks. The former is just bad government, the latter is outright theft taken from the working class and given to the rich. I am aware of your point about a lender of last resort and am aware of the history of banking. I think you talked yourself already into understanding my point though: that the Fed's bank guarantees are only necessary because we stupidly allow fractional reserve banking. By the way Friedman was not an advocate of central planning, even with monetary policy. He even advocated getting rid of the Fed., but when he realized it would take a revolution to do that, conceded they should at least use a hard rule, like I've been saying the k-percent rule, and not use discretionary monetary policy. Friedman could be cold and harsh at times which earned him controversy, but his expertise in monetary policy was part of why he won the Nobel, and the only reason he is ignored is because they are inconsistent with the profit motive of the financial sector.