One hypothesis is that this Covid-19 pandemic is being used to usher in the depression that may have taken some time to unfold on its own. Given the profligacy of the central banks over the last decade, it was obviously going to happen. Bubbles are always searching for a pin.

The pandemic gives the powers-that-be cover to blame it on a red herring, rather than the actual cause, i.e. the Central Bank.

This is good because most people don't understand the schemes of the central banks and thus, would not grasp why the depression was happening. The pandemic makes for a very palatable story. "The government HAD to shut down businesses, forcing us into a depression. It was unavoidable. And by the way, the central bank isn't lowering rates fast enough."

(This was bullshit, by the way. The problem was that the central bank kept rates far too low far too long. But the average person can't grasp that.)

Blaming the bank (a little bit) gives Trump cover to phase it out (awesome!) or nationalize it (a terrible idea).

Nationalizing the Federal Reserve is only a good idea if the goal is to eliminate it. A national central bank creates the same (if not more) moral hazards than a private one.

The problem isn't that a private central bank lends money into existence and then expects to be paid back interest. The problem is that when ANY central bank creates money, the privileged groups that are connected to the bank and the government get the money FIRST. This happens before prices go up due to inflation. These people are able to use counterfeit money to essentially buy whatever they want at today's prices.

Once the money circulates and inflation of prices occurs, people who are not connected to the fed and the government get the money. But now prices have already gone up. It's as if these people are paying a tax equivalent to the rate of inflation.

People connected to the central bank, whether it's private or public do not pay the inflation tax. Everyone else (you and me) does.

That's one of the truly insidious problems with a central bank, private or public.