The Federal Reserve was set up to control the gradual increase of the money supply that is needed as our population expands and per capita wealth grows. Wealth increases in a productive society over time (for example, 100 years ago very few people owned a car, expensive electronics, or phones; now most do). The total dollars in circulation hundreds of years ago would not be enough to enable the economic system to work today; dollars would appreciate themselves out of existence if we never added to the dollar pile in some way or another. Keeping it politically neutral was the...
