They are not. They are legally independent in many countries incl. the US, Japan, India (de facto), S. Korea, and Thailand.

> They are legally independent in many countries

We're saying the same thing. Most central banks, e.g. the Federal Reserve, were created by law. The Congress giveth and the Congress taketh away. In any case, the comment I was replying to seemed to imply central banks are privately owned. That's what I was refuting.

Fair enough.

I think the comment was implying that their policies, not being entirely democratically accountable - the effectiveness of these instruments themselves being arguable - are very likely going to be swayed by private interests.

I know there exists a revolving door b/w FDR and major Wall Street banks, but I'm not sure about other countries. I'd not be surprised if this were the case everywhere.

Edit:

'Princes of Yen' is a documentary that I found did a good job of illustrating the dangers of having such high powered unaccountable cabals (without all the BS that is typical in this genre).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY

Congress could technically issue a new law, but otherwise the president can't interfere beyond his ability to nominate replacements. What china really lacks is this separation of power, which is seen as a western imperialistic concept unsuited to china like rule of law via an independent judiciary.