Since the Federal Reserve is private...?

I can tell from your question that you do not know that much about printing money and Banking. Money is printed, but is not issued until the Federal Reserve needs to increase the Money Supply. Our Money system is called a Fiat System, which means that the money is worth something because the government says it is. The other type of money system, where money is backed by something, such as gold, is called commodity. So, no, our money value is going down due to the deflation of the economy and current recession. Bush ped the Stimulas bill so that you will spend the money to inflate the economy and cause high prices to go back down.