Vitaliy Katsenelson has a dispatch on a talk by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig:
It is a fundamental tenet of American capitalism that central planning of economies doesn't work in the long term, whether in Soviet Union historically or in China today. But I often wonder: How is the Fed's Board of Governors – the proverbial 12 guys in a room – any different than the 24 guys in a room who make up the Chinese politburo? The non-democratic Chinese may have a few more levers to push – an ability to force banks to lend, for example – but short of that, how is the Fed's micromanagement of interest rates any different from China's? After Hoenig came off the stage, I posed the question to Hoenig, and I asked him point-blank whether the Federal Reserve is an anti-capitalistic entity.
To my shock, Hoenig agreed with me: The Fed is anti-capitalistic.