IN RESPONSE TO ANONYMOUS READER

Dear Anonymous, This is a response to your point of view. Firstly, I argue that your interpretation of of the causes and effects of pre-Fed and post-Fed economic cycles is incorrect. I would like to know, specifically, what booms and busts that took place during the gold standard era, that compete in scope and magnitude with the Crash and Depression starting in 1929, the inflationary bubble of the 1970's, the Dot.com bubble, real estate bubble culminating with the mini-crash of 2008 and the impending WORLD -WIDE DEPRESSION staring us in the face?

You said:

The Fed was originally created to act as a lender of last resort to the banking system and to ameliorate the pervasive negative effects of financial panics. This worked for a while, but ultimately failed during the Great Depression because, although powerful, the Fed was still constrained by the gold standard. It could not furnish enough currency to cover the massive liquidation of private debts.

I posit to you that the CAUSE of the Depression, inflation of the 70's, tech bubble, real estate bubble, and now impending Depression were directly caused by the loose monetary policy employed by THE FED. In the roaring 20's, the Fed had very loose lending standards(easy money). The margins required of individuals to "invest" in the stock market were very low. Therefore, access to easy money, along with low margins, along with Wall St. induced propaganda concerning the "value" of investing led to mass overvaluation of assets. So, come 1929 the stock market became wildly overpriced, being driven up by the race for new, easy money to be "invested" into the marketplace.
When Wall St. bankers, with the help of the Fed, decided that the market was overvalued enough, they incredulously raised the margins on individual "investors" nationwide! Since most player's wealth was tied up in the "paper" wealth of the stock market, the policy had a compounding effect on society. Player's had to sell, to raise the capital to post margin. The Fed was complicit, with the help of Wall St. banks, to manipulate stock valuations, which led to rampant speculation and the the consequences of manipulative policy, The Crash of 1929. The crash had nothing to do with any gold standard whatsoever.
The reason we stayed in a depression for a full decade was due to the intentional contraction of lending by the banks. Small banks failed nationwide, while the Wall St. sponsored mega banks got stronger. FDR is viewed as a savior. He was nothing of the sort. He is responsible for allowing the creation of the behemoth welfare state in our country!
Also, I would like to point out to you, that operating a country's economic system modeling the flawed ideology of Keynesian economics over Austrian economics(sound money), has bankrupted our nation. So many, speak just of the benefits of incorporating inflationary policy, but somehow never explain the DEBT that continues to grow exponentially as a consequence to surreptitious actions of Congress with the aid of The Fed. Yes, we have bigger homes, more cars, faster planes, but at what cost? Do you realize that practicing inflationary monetary policy DESTROYS the laborers wealth? Did the citizens approve of that? Did our children get to vote concerning the spending for legacy obligations of our FEDERAL government? WE are BANKRUPT. Broke. We would not be broke, if we were still on a gold standard or similar policy of sound money.
The ONLY way to finance a military industrial complex and welfare state is through unsound monetary policy.i.e. inflation. How dare our government destroy our citizens hard earned money to finance these enterprises! The American's quality of life is going down, not up. We have only witnessed the "benefits" of inflationary policy and Keynesian ideology. We never discuss the repercussions.
The next chapter, one that I believe has devastating consequences to America, and the world for that matter, is the realization that the DEBT incurred by companies, municipalities, people, and lest we forget THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is unserviceable. In other words, massive defaults across the board are heading our way. DEFLATION is upon us. This deflationary episode, will destroy the elites. Without the ability to roll over long term debt with access to short term loans, and with the requirement to raise capital to rebalance portfolios that have been devastated due to overproduction, over-construction, etc. we will bear witness to a global contraction that has no equal. It is an unstoppable force.
Even though our Fed has gone to zero percent interest rates, doubled the money supply in 2 years that took 100 years to build, purchased toxic garbage from these banks, participated in QE-money printing, etc. etc. there will be no recovery. 100 years of compounding debt, created by the flawed ideology of fiat money, fractional reserve lending and interventionist governmental policy, has created an unsustainable amount of debt. It's the inability to service the debt that has destroyed our economy.
This time is different. This is the culmination of 100 years of kick-the-can economic policy. Look at all the new Fed policies benefitting banks. It still hasn't worked. It's not going to work this time. We have drowned in debt. We took in too much water. Protect yourself from these sycophants. Get a lifeboat. I suggest physical gold. even physical silver.