The Federal Reserve was supposed to protect the value of the U.S. dollar – at least that’s how it was originally sold to the public. We still don’t know why the dollar needed “protection”. It was solid for the longest time, except for the time when President Lincoln printed too many of them to pay for the War between the States, but those dollars came and went.
When the Federal Reserve was set up in 1913, the dollar was worth as much on that day as it was when Napoleon Bonaparte set off for Russia.
Instead what the Fed has successfully done is allow the dollar to slip and decline through the 20th century and is now worth only about 3 cents! The likelihood of a continuing decline is strong.