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> Fed is managed by and subject to the government I guess that depends on how you define managing. I mean, the Fed couldn't do exactly whatever they wanted, t

> Fed is managed by and subject to the government I guess that depends on how you define managing. I mean, the Fed couldn't do exactly whatever they wanted, the government would step in if it got too crazy. But on the other hand, separating the government from the central bank is a fundamental idea in the whole central banking argument. If it indeed was completely managed by and subjected to the full political influence of the government the US would probably have higher denomination bills [0]. [0]: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zimbabwe_$100_trillion_2009_Obverse.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zimbabwe_$100_trilli...

colechristensen 7y ago
The Fed is governed by laws Facebook isn't and it's board is appointed by the government. The Fed has clear interest and motivation to have priorities in line with the country. Facebook absolutely does not. What happens when Facebook goes under and private capital bleeds it dry? (cough Toys R Us). I don't think Bain Capital's monetary policy would be good for us.
dragonwriter 7y ago
> I guess that depends on how you define managing. The Board of Governors are government employees appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; the Fed is as much part of the government as any of the other “independent” executive board/commissions/agencies.
- filleokus 7y ago
  I might have extrapolated a bit too much from my much deeper knowledge of my countries central bank system. But I gess it's fair to ish compare Supreme Court justices to fed governors (not easy to fire and long terms)? My point was more that colechristensen's "appeal to democracy" seemed somewhat misguided. Both the Fed and the Supreme Court seems like the least "democratic" government institutions, in some sense. Not that it's bad, nor that I think that FB would be a better guardian of our money supply, but still.
gowld 7y ago
The Executive can mint money through a silly bug in the law: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_dollar_coin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_dollar_coin

colechristensen 7y ago

The Fed is governed by laws Facebook isn't and it's board is appointed by the government. The Fed has clear interest and motivation to have priorities in line with the country. Facebook absolutely does not. What happens when Facebook goes under and private capital bleeds it dry? (cough Toys R Us). I don't think Bain Capital's monetary policy would be good for us.

dragonwriter 7y ago

> I guess that depends on how you define managing. The Board of Governors are government employees appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; the Fed is as much part of the government as any of the other “independent” executive board/commissions/agencies.

filleokus 7y ago
I might have extrapolated a bit too much from my much deeper knowledge of my countries central bank system. But I gess it's fair to ish compare Supreme Court justices to fed governors (not easy to fire and long terms)? My point was more that colechristensen's "appeal to democracy" seemed somewhat misguided. Both the Fed and the Supreme Court seems like the least "democratic" government institutions, in some sense. Not that it's bad, nor that I think that FB would be a better guardian of our money supply, but still.

gowld 7y ago

The Executive can mint money through a silly bug in the law: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_dollar_coin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion_dollar_coin