Most economists think inflation of 1-3% is ideal. Deflation incents people to hoard capital as currency instead of reinvesting into the economy.
"Who made the state, and traders the arbiters of when, how long, how fast trades should be made?
Nobody really controls that. The Federal Reserve influences the rate of lending by influencing certain key lending rates. But the speed at which most trades are made is not regulated by anyone. So I don't know really what you are getting at here? I thought maybe you were asking who made the state the arbiter of the inflation rate, but that's now what you asked. The answer to that question would be Congress in 1913 when they created the Federal Reserve. Before that Inflation/Deflation was not well controlled and the nation suffered repeated bouts of depression as a result.
"From the late 1700 until the beginnings of the Federal Reserve we had a stable US dollar,"
No we didn't. It was gold backed, but it was anything but stable. Go back and look at the wild swings in the CPI. See MeasuringWorth.com. The dollar has been significantly more stable since the Federal Reserve than before it.
"and with primitive finance, bad to no information, no to very poor infrastructure, we built the wealthiest nation in the world, literally from nothing. We built cities to rival anyone. From nothing. Now? We can't pour concrete. Yeah, this is working out good."
Are you living in Mexico? Because here in the U.S. the amount of growth since I was a kid has been phenomenal. Roads, cities, infrastructure, etc. The biggest problem is that we've had some unwise trade policies that have decimated our manufacturing. And we've not has an energy policy that adequately addressed the risk of oil price shocks that we have understood since the early 70's.
We've done fantastically well under the Federal Reserve. We' survived two world wars and prospered after each one. Read up on the history of the "Long Depression." For 30 years after the Civil War we went from one recession/depression to another. That's what ending the Federal Reserve will do for you. Is it any wonder, long term projects can not be economically undertaken when you are unable to plan on stable values? From the late 1700 until the beginnings of the Federal Reserve we had a stable US dollar, and with primitive finance, bad to no information, no to very poor infrastructure, we built the wealthiest nation in the world, literally from nothing. We built cities to rival anyone. From nothing. Now? We can't pour concrete. Yeah, this is working out good.
Wise free trade policies are at least in part responsible for the growth you recognize. You can’t prevent business from fleeing a bad tax and regulatory environment by locking the trade doors.