But if the claim that "Our totally unbacked, printed money, controlled by the central planners at the Federal Reserve, is the absolute cause" had any merit that wouldn't have happened, despite the ardent belief of a small segment of kooks that the Fed is a hotbed of James Bond level villainy.
The $19 trillion of national debt that you cite is entirely the responsibility of Congress, not the Fed. Evidently you don't know who votes on the debt limit, and who has the power to order the Treasury to sell bonds.
The "fiat, unbacked currency" is the result of Nixon abandoning the Bretton Woods Agreement, not the Fed. Evidently you failed to hear that the Fed operated under the gold standard when it was in effect, and that they had exactly no vote on ending it. It wasn't their call.
Moreover the Fed is a central bank, they aren't "central planners"- that's more kook talk. They have some control over monetary policy and the ability of the banking system to expand and contract credit. But as we saw back in the 1970s the bond vigilantes of the private sector have more firepower than the Fed when they act in concert. Not the sort of stuff that the kook sector pays attention to but then facts are stubborn things and it really happened
Manipulating interest rates, at least on the very short term, is indeed something that the Fed can do. So amazingly you managed to get one claim right. Good work.
You contradict yourself. They aren't central-planners, but they have the ability to "expand and contract credit." Which is it? Perhaps you would like to explain the purposes of 4 rounds of Quantitative Easing or "operation twist" to influence long vs. short term rates?
Moreover, you didn't read my post - you just immediately gave your knee-jerk reaction. Yes, Nixon took us off the gold standard, which made our currency totally fiat and unbacked. That, AND the Federal Reserve's manipulations means our currency is completely centrally-controlled.
Your comments about America reaching its apogee in the 1950's - 40 years AFTER the establishment of the Fed are post-hoc thinking. You ignore the effects of two world wars, a great depression and the utter destruction of Europe and Japan afterwards, as well as our abandonment of the gold standard. As Toynbee said - there's a lot of ruin in a great nation.
As for Congress - I have explained elsewhere. Easy money and massive debt has enabled at least 60 years of nanny state growth and all their political dependents and cronies. Obama has increased debt by $10 Trillion, thanks to massive Federal Reserve QE and ZERO interest rates. Sorry, but Congress' only role now is simply to pass out the free money to its constituents and supporters. Show me any conservatives who can resist this?