What is laissez faire about central banks?

[cd27]

From Meltdown by Thomas E Woods Jnr:

"...we are told incessantly that laissez faire has failed. In fact, it is central planning of the money supply that has failed. It has given us the most bloated asset bubble the world has ever seen. It has encouraged the diversion of resources into an unsustainable structure of production that must be rearranged amidst inevitable bankruptcies and liquidations.

And no, this is not better that what we had before. Money and banking have never been entirely free in American history,, which is the history of government-established national banks, special privileges for unsound banks, disruptive government-imposed gold-silver ratios, and the like. The gold standard had already seriously debased by the time of the 1920s (though that hasn't stopped historians from trying to blame the Great Depression, foolishly enough, on gold). But when Americans had a legitimate commodity standard, they had a money that held its value. In fact, it actually gained in value. An item that cost $100 in 1820 would have cost only $63.02 in 1913" (page 150)

[20000miles]

I know Meltdown is a top book, but do we really need so many threads on it?

[cd27]

Another quote:

"At the end of September 2008, Judy Shelton wrote: 'If capitalism depends on designating a person of godlike abilities to manage demand and supply for all forms of money and credit - currency, demand deposits, money-market funds, repurchase agreements, equities, mortgages, corporate debt - we are as doomed as those wretched citizens who relied on central planning for their economic salvation'. Capital, the array of goods that contribute to the production process, is rather an important ingredient of capitalism. And yet alleged believers of the free market somehow mange to bring themselves to 'allow the price of capital, i.e. the interest rate on loanable funds, to be fixed by a central committee in accordance with government objectives." (Meltdown, page 153)

[cd27]

you're right, last thread

[Pig Destroyer]

Yeah, that's right - just press on regardless.
Any chance of another quote for us?

[hugh jarce]

why does the central bank of england run the central bank of ireland?

i think we've been bankrupt since before the foundation of the state,
and the giving away of the corrib gas field, state guarantees etc make perfect sense if this is the case..

[cd27]

Yet more powers for the Fed,

FT.com / US / Economy & Fed - New rules put Fed in hot seat

They want to use regulation instead of monetary policy to address asset price bubbles because they're more easily addressed that way.