"Monetary Policy is very difficult to understand—given it effectively operates as a political programme ... dictated by political expediency."

“'[M]onetary policy' ... is in fact very difficult to understand—given it effectively operates as a political programme within the muddled field of macroeconomics ... dictated by political expediency.
    "As for money itself, there is nothing so difficult about it conceptually. A hundred and fifty years ago Carl Menger explained how money arose as the most saleable commodity in the marketplace, with the best properties to be a store of value and medium of exchange. Thus money solved the problems and inefficiencies of barter. Forty years later Ludwig von Mises relied on Menger’s subjective marginal-utility theory to solve the circular problem of explaining how money obtained value in the first place ... explaining how commodities’ 'moneyness' value evolved from their preexisting nonmonetary uses. No government or central bank was necessary ...
    "These two concepts give us the baseline conceptual understanding of money’s origin and value. But every shrewd merchant and trader over the centuries already understood money instinctively.... Many people intuitively understand money. What they don’t understand is monetary policy. The idea that exceedingly intelligent people at central banks and national treasuries must 'run' complex monetary 'systems' surely is one of the greatest swindles ever perpetrated. It nonetheless remains widely accepted ...
    "At its core, economics is conceptually simple: humans make choices in an environment of 'scarcity' to achieve ends. Money is a means to those ends, not an end in itself. It is the market’s answer to the inefficiency of barter....
    "Today, however, the concept of money is overwhelmed and completely obscured by politics. Modern money is political (fiat) money, which is to say it is a tool of government and an instrument of political power....
    "Thanks to political money, confusion reigns.... [M]ostly we hear confusion between wealth and money, rooted in the politicised, zero-sum nature of monetary policy. More money and credit do not magically create more goods and services, more capital investment, or a more productive economy. Prosperity cannot be legislated by politicians or engineered by central bankers.
    "What to do? The best approach in a confused world is a return to fundamentals. Mises’s 'The Theory of Money and Credit' is a great place to start, as is Murray Rothbard’s 'What Has Government Done to Our Money?' and Robert Murphy’s recent 'Understanding Money Mechanics'. For most lay readers, any of these books would be sufficient to puncture today’s money mythology. Circulate them among friends and family to help build the future cadre of monetary policy deniers. What the world needs today is champions of commodity money, sound money, hard money with a high stock-to-flow ratio, all of which is to say money that retains or increases purchasing power even when held in a simple savings account. This will require all of us ... to push for a great awakening.
    "Money is simple, but opposing the political tool of monetary 'policy' is not."

~ Jeff Deist, from his post 'Money versus Monetary Policy'