Chris Christie calls for Federal Reserve to be audited during GOP candidate debate ... Several Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday accused the Federal Reserve of keeping U.S. interest rates low for political reasons, and one called for replacing Fed Chair Janet Yellen. "The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said in the "undercard" Republican debate hosted by Fox Business Network. – Raw Story

Dominant Social Theme: Let's not talk about the Fed. It's boring and even irrelevant.

Free-Market Analysis: Ordinarily we would post something on a different topic given that our first article examined central banking. However, this report (see above) on the Republic debate is important to note, as it provides further evidence of opposition to a central Fed meme – namely that the Fed is neither competent nor providing a necessary service.

Almost a half-decade ago, we announced the Federal Reserve as a credible monetary facility was in significant difficulty and was losing support of the citizenry it was supposed to serve. Since then we've seen nothing to change that conclusion. The Fed as an institution is certainly in trouble and continues to lose credibility.

The Fed came in for significant criticism last night. During the Republican "undercard" debate – as in a previous late October debate – the Fed was targeted by national politicians, and its strategies and even right to exist were questioned. Most prominently, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie came out for a Fed audit, supporting a bill introduced by libertarian senator Rand Paul that has some 30 cosponsors.

Former US Senator Rick Santorum pointed out that low rates are harming the finances of senior citizens. Seniors traditionally have lived off interest on savings but with rates so low the proceeds derived from savings and investments are increasingly modest.