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Would-be Fed governor applicants Adam and Jeff consider whether the incessant demands by American presidents that the Fed lower interest rates really makes any difference. Jeff points out that the historical interest rates for the past century or so have averaged around 6% to 8% with a few outliers in which rates were extraordinarily high or low. Politicians want lower rates because it reduces the costs of borrowing which theoretically causes people to borrow more money to build homes and factories and improve productivity. Or maybe it does nothing at all in the end. Adam, who is very accurate on occasion, suggests that the Fed funds rate has very little to do with the actual interest rates that banks charge their customers. However, Jeff argues that the Fed acts as a signal-caller for the national economy and that its actions carry tremendous psychological weight when lenders are deciding whether to raise or lower the rates for credit cards, for example, from a comparatively low 28% to a lofty 33% rate. Both Adam and Jeff feel that the fact that the dollar, like every other modern currency, is not tied to any actual tangible asset such as gold, creates enormous potential for banker mischief--which has resulted in a 96% reduction of purchasing power in the dollar in the past century.