History shows many boom/bust cycles long before there was such a thing as the Federal Reserve.Exactly and the record speaks for itself. While the past century's been mostly expansion with temporary downturns, the previous was the other way around w/ mostly downturns w/ momentary expansions..
Still, having the Fed in 1913 didn't make all that much difference. What made us better off were fed policies like losing the gold standard and separating monetary policy. Since WWII not only have dollar prices have been far more stable but both econ production and employment's said goodbye to the regular severe downturn everyone's forgotten.
Who has forgotten severe downturns? We’re in the same one that started with the collapse of the Fed-fueled housing bubble, and not only have we not recovered from it, but we’re about to go into a whole new phase.
Just FYI the dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power since the Fed got a hold of it; that cannot be considered to be stable by any reasonable definition of the term.
The curve smoothing comes with a price, and the price is increasingly large bubbles - until there are no more bubbles that can be blown and the entire system collapses catastrophically.
We’re there now. Zero percent interest rates for years and still the economy is stalled, still unemployment is through the roof and GDP is negative. This is the endgame of a slow-burn Ponzi scheme.