Perhaps the disconnect might rely on the Fed being unchecked, directly, by the populace. Granted the president appoints the Chairman, but this isn't exactly the same as a democratic check.

I'll admit there is an apparent discontinuity, however.

Financial markets are the monitor, not voters (for the most part, though of course there is voter dislike of inflation). This argument has been known for a long time, no?

Thanks, Tyler. That clears up who "we" are in the second quotation. And yes, with that substitution the argument is now familiar. I was thrown off because "we" suggested "we voters" in the context of "should one push the button to replace the Fed with a gold standard?". It didn't occur to me that "we" meant "we financial markets".