I'm not sure where you're getting I claimed gas prices were favorable under Obama. They weren't high, and historically, they were actually quite low vs inflation, but I never made that argument. Where are you getting that from - what exactly did I write that made you think that, because my personal position is that US presidents have little influence on the price of gasoline, which is refined from Light Sweet Crude, not just any oil from anywhere in the world (including the Canadian tar sands which do not produce a petroleum product suitable for American gasoline refineries).
As far as the Fed, again, it's not independent. I looked at your link, to the Fed, but that link only confirms what I wrote. Here is what the Fed's website that you linked to actually states about the 12 Fed Reserve (physical) Bank locations:
It states that they "operate independently," which means they manage their banking customer in their banking region independently... the American banking system is massive, so it's divided up into 12 federal reserve bank regions.
Here is what you wrote:
It's extremely misleading to say the Fed is not a govt agency, it is part of the US Govt, most definitely, and the Fed Reserve Bank branches are able to operate independent **of the Fed** on a day to day operations basis, but they are in no way independent banks, like Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, or Bank of America. The Fed Reserve Banks are accountable to the Fed, which is ultimately accountable to the US Govt, the US Congress as elected leaders of the US Govt, and the President (not directly, but indirectly). To be clear, a US President can remove the Fed Chairman for cause... and a US President can simply make up any cause they want, as who is going to stop him? Case in point, Trump constantly harassed the Fed Chairman because he disagreed with the Fed increasing interest rates. Many thought Trump was just going to make up a reason to fire him. If Trump fired him (for "cause") then who would have stopped him... I'll help you, nobody would.
Now, as far as federal taxes. A VAT tax, really? Maybe we should just go to a federal sales tax (ie "Flat Tax"), right? That way somebody making minimum wage can pay the same Federal Sales Tax on a gallon of milk that Jeff Bezos pays on a gallon of milk. The Flat Tax, the VAT Tax, the National Sales Tax, are just ways to move our progressive federal tax system to a regressive federal tax system that taxes the poor and middle class the same way it taxes the rich. It's a horrible idea. Anyone that's more of an economist and less of a Republican pundit understands this. The middle class spend much of their paychecks. The rich don't. You want to get the economy going, you put more money in the hands of the middle class. This does not mean you punish the rich, but if you keep tilting the tax code more and more to the rich, then there are less and less people with money to support the US economy.
Case in point... why is it that CEOs can get paid in stock options that are only taxed at the top equity rate, which is something like 15%, meanwhile, their earned income rate would be at the top tax bracket of 35-37%? Why does every other "normal" American have to pay on their total income, with most of us only taking the standard deduction, but these CEO making over $10M a year can pay the top rate on their $1M salary, but then only pay maybe a 15% rate on the remainder of their income, because it was paid in stock options? And don't tell me that the CEOs are worth it, because American CEO making many times more than Japanese or German CEOs, and even when they do bad, the company board just "reprices" the options lower so they make about just as much money as before. The CEO always get paid, regardless of how the company performs.
