Having an effective central bank does matter.

On the heels of the European Central Bank lowering the targeted bank rate to 0.5%, I thought it might be useful to see how Ben Bernanke and the Feds reacted to the economic slowdown, compared to the ECB.

So, because I'm using Google Docs, there are some things that I can't do effectively in order to accurately draw this chart, but I think you can get the picture...and besides, it's prettier this way. :D

The ECB (under Jean-Claude Trichet) hesitated lowering rates in 2008, even as it was apparent that the EU economy was rapidly in decline.  He even raised rates (twice!) in 2011, boosting the rate above 1%.  Enter Mario Draghi, and he immediately cut the rate and followed up with a series of quantitative easing, starting in November 2011.

Meanwhile Ben Bernanke immediately drove the targeted Fed rate down to 0~0.25% in the fourth quarter of 2008, the worst quarter-over-quarter decline in GDP since the Great Depression, then followed through with a series of quantitative easing programs.

Thus, the EU 27 has seen both a deeper recession and a worse recovery than the US.

And to think that Ron Paul and his gold-buggery-come-Bitcoin-nuts followers want to get rid of a centralized banking system!