Letters to the Editor
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Actually, you'd be wrong
The Federal Reserve was created to control the money supply and ensure the money's value. Prior to the creation of the Fed, money was issued by individual banks and a dollar from bank A might not be as valuable as a dollar from bank B (hence the reliance on specie). As a consequence of being the only issuer of money, the Fed had vast powers over the liquidity of the economy, a power they clearly didn't understand at first. It wasn't until the Roosevelt administration that the regulatory power of the Fed came into play because if a bank wanted to offer FDIC protection to their depositors, they had to join the Federal banking system which imposed, among other regulatory rules, reserve requirements. It should be noted that (a) a bank was/is not required to join the Federal system as long as they were willing to forgo the benefits of membership, and (b) up until a few years ago, there were still banks that were not a part of the Federal system.