Fed is far too dangerous to be unaccountable
To qualify as an independent philosopher-king you have to be possessed of superior knowledge, but it is obvious that the Fed has none. It is equally as bad at forecasting the economic and financial future as everybody else. There is no evidence that it has any kind of superior insight. It does not know what the results of its own actions will be. That, combined with its capacity for damage, means it needs to be be made accountable in a system of governmental checks and balances, which is consistent with the American constitutional order.
The Fed needs to hold regular grown-up discussions with the Congress about what it thinks it is doing, what theories it is trying to apply, how its ideas are changing and which sectors are being hurt or helped by its actions. Your editorial worries about the effects of the politics such discussions might entail, but everything about the money question is, has been, and will be, political.
Image by Orhan Cam