Much is made of "independent central bank," though I typically think of that independence in the same light as "newspaper with independent newsroom which is fir

Much is made of "independent central bank," though I typically think of that independence in the same light as "newspaper with independent newsroom which is firewalled off of the advertising/commercial side such that editorial decisions are never influenced by the business." In practice Congress and the Fed are sibling entities in the same system, which cooperate when stressed (there are many historical examples of this, e.g. WW2). The alignment is obviously not perfect, but there is much more coordination than "totally independent" as is often bandied about.