United Liberty

Since the Federal Reserve announced its third-round of quantitative easing (QE3), a monetary policy move which essentially involves the central bank buying up debt,  Americans are beginning to wondering what impact it will have on them.

The goal of QE3 is ultimately to bring down the unemployment by one-percent, but it would also raise commodity prices and may even have some affect on housing market, though that impact may be marginal.

Questions remain whether the launching the program was wise, especially when one considers that the two previous rounds of quantitative easing and Operation Twist, have done little to ease the slow growth the economy has experienced.

The Federal Reserve, which has printed money and loaned trillions to national and foreign banks, has been under increased scrutiny since the 2008 financial crisis. Over the last four years, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has led the push in Congress to audit the United States’ central bank. As George Will recently said, the Federal Reserve has become the fourth branch of government, taking questionable steps with little oversight. Others wonder if the United States even needs the Fed since its creating more problems than anything else.

In a new video from Learn Liberty, Lawrence White, a professor at George Mason University, explains that the United States could indeed survive and prosper without the Federal Reserve, which, as he notes, has frequently become impediment to economic growth: