Yes, they are.
They are controlled by a central authority, not the markets.
They privatize the profits and socialize the losses.
They were instituted by a ruling elite.
Their goal, as a cartel, is global domination of all currency and thus the economies of every nation.
And if you want a better understanding of the socialists that implemented central banking throughout the world, read Griffin’s “The Creature from Jekyll Island,” Woods’ “Meltdown,” or Rothbard’s, “Case Against the Fed.”
The Fed is a private corporation.
Profits from the Fed go to the US Treasury. I think it was 40 billion last year.
As far as the elite creating it, sure it did, but only after fighting the idea for 30+ years.
The idea arose in the West where farmers were constantly bashed by deflations triggered by the actions of Easter banks. They wanted a Reserve bank to keep specie from flowing to the Money Center banks and to prevent their mortgages from being called even when current because of the demands of those banks.
The banks refused to go along with creating a system of Reserve banks as the Populists demanded because such a system would diminish their private financial power. It was Finance Capitalists of the highest order who created the Fed not socialists. The very top of the capitalist order.
After the Panic of 1907 (the Bankers’ Panic) occurred and was stopped by the personal authority of J.P. Morgan, the bankers started to realize that without Morgan they would be screwed. He died a few years later and they created the Federal Reserve.
Their goal is to try and create favorable economic conditions. The Fed has been ordered by congress to try and achieve full employment in the US as well.