I'm not saying there isn't a political component to the Fed. However, the point of the OP is that specific recessions are directly traceable to Presidents and their actions, not to the Federal Reserve nor to other government agencies.
Extending this logic, the Tech Bubble and Housing Bubble are the fault of Ronald Reagan. Reagan appointed Greenspan who controlled the FOMC during the Tech Bubble and whose policies led to the Housing Bubble. Rather, I lay the blame on Greenspan, not on Reagan, since it was Greenspan, not Reagan, who set interest rate policy. Perhaps we should blame Reagan, since he fired Volcker, America's greatest central banker, and replaced him with Greenspan, perhaps America's worst.
As for recessions being the "fault" of the federal government, recessions were more common and lasted longer in the 1800s before the Federal Reserve system than in the 1900s, and have been less frequent and less deep since WWII. That's not a defense of the Fed. We may be witnessing the end of the Fed as we know it, I don't know. However, before the Fed and the implementation of automatic government stabilizers, recessions in the past occurred more frequently and were worse.
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