One could argue that the central bank’s leadership doesn’t need to be smart; they simply need to follow the one correct theory describing how the central bank should “optimally” manage the money supply. But economic theory tells us that a coercive monopoly simply cannot handle this task. Keynesianism, which politicians still cling to (since it offers them a place at the economic helm), got bogged down back during the Great Depression. Keynes assured us that after the creation of the Fed, crises would be a thing of the past—now that central banks would manage the money supply “on a scientific basis.” He said this just before the Great Depression struck. The very fact that, despite Keynesianism’s abject failure, it served as the official economic doctrine for the eighty years following that depression tells us something: the “correct theory,” even if one existed, would never be adopted.