Mr. Leonard has done some good investigative journalism (his Koch h comes to mind) but he really does not understand the Federal Reserve System, particularly the FOMC. That the New York Fed I the principal executor of Open Market activity is by design, with the Chicago role added when derivatives forwards and swaps became major factors. That they are not perfect is indisputable. That he 'suggests' 'cloning itself' is making a logical and reasonable step to be incendiary.
There are large questions and major risks in regulatory failings, such as the SEC rules, and the DTC is particularly egregious. Sadly, The focus on FOMC and constituent parts is attacking one fo the few parts of the system that still are relevant more than 100 years after the Federal reserve was created. Bluntly, in my opinion the problem si not with the specific institutions. It is that the advent of highly automated systems, instantaneous automated trading and a nearly infinite variety of instruments that have created a level of complexity that exceeds typical regulators from understanding the system, partly because obsolete institutions themselves were never designed for the modern world.
In our own terms; the markets move at Tesla speed. The regulators move at General Motors speed.
Mr. Leonard really misses the major point. He also does not really understand what a currency actually is, by definition the entity that creates a currency also controls it. All currencies are symbols that have value only when they have public faith in their value. Mr. Leonard might check out 'hyperinflation' to see what happens when the faith fails.
All securities operate on the same basis. The question now is what control there should be over blatant manipulation from private parties. Candidly, all of us want better control. The problems comes when we try to define what controls should be implemented.
After several seminars and courses from, among others, a head of the FOMC, a child accountant of the SEC and others I am acutely aware that none of the courses almost all fo us advocate are simple to do. Yes, even market makers 'naked shorts', and even 'fail to deliver'. Even those are not rally quite so simple as they seem to be. Prohibiting them entirely also has a cost. FWIW, I personally would do both, despite the systemic risk both will introduce.
Once again the comparison is really markets in Tesla time and regulation in Chevy II time.
I don't think it is "only" a matter of TSLA speed. The SEC is clearly NOT doing its job, and IMHO keeps old processes and obscure/ complex regulations in place to allow for loopholes letting naked shorts go on without fear of getting caught. This has been discussed by folks here and elsewhere before.
Listening only to official accounts of the Fed/ SEC, NIH, FDA and other government entities you'd think all's good and taken good care of,
NOT.
May I remind you that that same SEC is the one which is (on purpose, according to financial experts) staffed mostly by lawyers with limited knowledge of the financial industry they are supposed to regulate. And which ignored, even blocked any investigation of Madoff, after Harry Markopolos showed them for 10 years+ who impossible mathematically the Madoff returns were. The SEC who only sued Madoff *after* the fund became so insolvent Madoff himself told his sons to admit to the fraud. Then the SEC who refused to pay Markopolos his whistleblower award, then to add insult to injury either promoted those responsible for blocking the investigation internally, or let them off without penalty, get high paying jobs with the banks they are supposed to regulate.
I know it is hard to believe, I worked for one of the largest multinationals and it took me a good dozen years, when I took the time to investigate and meet people with other points of view before I saw the enormity of my mistaken opinions. Most successful people rightfully delegate and defer to "authorities"; it takes the rare oomph and intellect/ experience of Elon to see through all the smoke and mirrors.
I still remember how Elon also had the balls to defy the local California authorities in May of 2020 and tell them to put HIM in jail first if they were to arrest anyone. It wasn't clear till later on (the Press made a good job of hiding this) that that Alameda official was out of sync with the state and was a paid consultant to the anti Tesla FUD.
To return to the main point: no, the Fed and other authorities are not doing the job they pretend to do - they are driving the country in worse condition than any rational government would do if it had the interests of its citizens* at large in mind. We more fortunate people don't suffer what the average US citizen has to endure: second rate education, out of reach medical costs, increasing real inflation, small businesses going bankrupt ( due to Covid closures, inordinate paperwork requirements only large corps can afford, unfair competition, misrepresentation leading to private doctor practices, small dairy farmers closing out or going out of business etc ). Oh and not to forget, they still do not recognize Tesla's prowess, actually do their best to crush it .. to the absurd point that now China touting its sensational Shanghai factory seem to the other world like *they* created Tesla's tech ... really...
Cui Bono?
(*) Citizens: average or wealthy but with some common sense or at least good tastes.