"The Federal Reserve System [...] was created in 1913 by the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely as a response to a series of financial panics or bank runs, particularly a severe panic in 1907."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System
So telling us that the Fed is the reason for the recent panic is ridiculous. Capitalism by itself is highly destructive. Without state interference you would have a famine in the US by now.
So telling us that the Fed is the reason for the recent panic is ridiculous. Capitalism by itself is highly destructive. Without state interference you would have a famine in the US by now.
[edit:] See also: http://money.howstuffworks.com/fed1.htm