Greg Mankiw, former head of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors and one of the big wheels in mainstream economics, writes: “Jon Stewart asks Alan Greenspan an excellent question:

“‘Why do we have a Fed? Why do we have someone adjusting the rates if we’re a free-market society?’

“Alan’s answer is not satisfying, but I don’t blame him: The economics profession does not have a good answer.” Read the rest. (Thanks to Oliver Chadwick.)