but fractional banking is still the root of the problem. Politically motivated rate cuts just encourage inflation while spreading a bit more money around. It is just a temporary solution. sure, the fed is smart to psych people out so there isn't a counterproductive credit crunch, but encouraging and perpetuating fractional-reserve banking means that we'll catch up to the rate cut eventually and be in the same boat all over again. I wonder how long we can keep it up. Overall I agree, speeding up inevitable inflation is a bad decision, it should be slowed, and politicians seem to only think of the short term. Thing is, a big government that has control of its citizens needs money to keep operating, and needs to be in control of the money, and demonstrate control, in order to stay in power. That is how it works. Money and power go hand in hand so the bank is the government and the government is the bank. If you try to have one not be the other, it will become both as a matter of necessity. The fed, our central bank, is just another arm of the government. It was bold of the founding fathers to try to separate the two but as democracy is stealthily perverted into something else, the two merge further. Maybe this is why our government is described as an experiment. The creators said, go do this, but never had any idea how. Money is power. Money is government. Anyone who can figure out how to seperate the two and keep them that way will be the most famous person in history because they will give freedom to the entire population. Meanwhile, accepting the fact that the two are tied together, it would be nice to eliminate some stupidity and back our money up with something real. Of course, it would be harder for government to steal it that way, wouldn't it?

"Stabbing someone in the head with a pitchfork is rarely beneficial to the relationship." - MereKat