Before the Federal Reserve, recessions devastated the US economy every 20 years in the United States. When the Fed is actually given the autonomy to do what’s right it’s a pretty effective system. The last two recessions were pretty bad but they weren’t due to monetary policy but rather fiscal policy + bad actors and a pandemic.

The skeptic in me questions the motivation of public figures who blame all economic woes on the Fed. It really checks off a lot of populist scapegoat boxes

* Un-elected technocrats making important decisions in the shadows

* big government interfering in the economy

* impossible to understand as a layperson (for anyone?)

* a big departure from traditional ways of doing things so people think it was better in the good old days

Additionally it’s a good way to distract from America’s dismal fiscal policies. Finally, I think there’s a physiological component where people blame economic hardship on the tangible incarnation of wealth - money - as opposed to more abstract systems. It’s a way to map their emotions on something they know and understand.