The case against discretionary monetary policy rests on two bases. One is technical: Monetary policy has long and variable lags, and forecasts are inaccurate. The second is that monetary policy is not made by a philosopher-king who efficiently uses all available information and always puts the public interest ahead of his own interest. Friedman argues that one need not attribute evil intent to Fed officials to conclude that they often put the Fed's self-interest ahead of the public interest.

Nonetheless, many economists seem to interpret the monetarist's belief that the Fed does not wholeheartedly pursue the public interest as an attack on the integrity of Fed policy-makers. Many economists know these policy-makers personally and know them to be devoted public servants. Hence, they find any attack on the Fed's intentions entirely implausible.