Ben Bernanke's Fed

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Declaration ofIndependence

The Political Economyof Central Banking

In the populist tradition, the Fed is not only a mysterious institution, but it also has a malevolent twist, pulling its policy levers on behalf of financial firms and the rich. Greider describes the Fed as “the crucial anomaly at the very core of representative democracy.”¹ This unelected group decides “who shall prosper and who shall fail.” At the extreme the Fed is viewed as part of a conspiracy to control the global economy.

This is not the way most members of the economics profession view the Fed. Fed officials are not the only federal officials that are not directly elected. ...