[Cthulhu_]

Central banks are however beholden to national and international laws, governmental scrutiny, and the international financial market. Yes they can - and do - manipulate the markets on an unfathomable scale, but it's to enable and protect national and international economies, instead of optimising for quick wins and personal gain.

[TangoTrotFox]

And it's a good thing that the international financial market and governments are not driven by self interest... Decisions like quantitative easing completely distort our economy and more importantly benefit a certain group of individuals and hurt another. To imagine that these considerations are put aside by those involved in these decisions is unreasonable.

I mean I don't understand the cognitive dissonance here. In nearly every action our government carries out we can see the behind the scenes motivations which tend to be appeal to special interests. And here you are straight faced arguing that because quantitative easing is done by government (and financial markets) it's somehow above the notion of quick wins and personal gain. This is illogical.