I'm amazed.
Really.
Most of the comments on this article are correct, and show a firm understanding of the cause and effects of the use of fiat money. Congratulations, Freepmates!
The article is wrong, as my Mates say above, because the Fed did cause the Great Depression by failing to increase the stock of high-powered money fast enough, as the collapse in bank deposits accelerated.
What they should've done, as Bernanke knows, is to buy government securities as fast as they could, and when they ran out of them, buy anything else they can find: stocks, bonds, wheat, real estate - anything to get money in the hands of the people.
Instead, faced with the Fed's failure to both understand and accomplish its assigned tasks, the US treasury ended up buying all the silver in the world, ruining the Chinese economy, and setting the stage for the Japanese conquest of the Celestial Empire.
The Fed's actions caused the war in the Pacific.
The Fed is the single most powerful entity on earth and it must be watched closely.
"The Fed is the single most powerful entity on earth and it must be watched closely."
But it won't allow us to watch it anymore (M3 going stealth next year). Why? What does the Fed know about '06 that it's not telling us?
Notice how Gold has gone up almost everyday since the M3 announcement and Bernanke was confirmed. Something smells here.