Looking at the pre-Fed era, the US consumer price index (CPI) declined at an annual average of 0.5% and real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual 4% during 1800-1912; this would have been labeled grave deflation by Bernanke and would have been considered as a danger to the economy.
During the Fed era, the CPI rose at 3.5% per year and real GDP at 3.25% per year during 1913-2009. Hence a dollar bought almost twice as much goods in 1912 as it did in 1800; and in 2009 it bought less than 5% of the goods it bought in 1913.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/MA04Dj01.html
A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army. ‘We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.’
Thomas Jefferson
Taleb Interview on Bernanke, QE
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Nassim Taleb, New York University professor and author of "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable," discusses the Federal Reserve's decision to initiate another round of quantitative easing. Taleb, speaking with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "Inside Track," also talks about his new book "The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms." (Source: Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64477298/
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, and Bethany McLean, a Bloomberg contributing editor, discuss Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's job performance and policy decisions. Rogers, speaking from Singapore, and McLean, speaking from Louisville, Kentucky, talk with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop."
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64407998/
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