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The purpose of this article is to explain the current implementation of monetary policy in the United States, as well as some of the financial details behind the current methods.

Money creation and money supply

When money is deposited in a bank, it can then be lent out to another person. If the initial deposit was $100 and the bank lends out $100 to another customer the money supply has increased by $100. However, because the depositor can ask for the money back, banks have to maintain minimum reserves to service customer needs. If the reserve requirement is 10% then, in the earlier example, the bank can lend $90 and thus the money supply increases by only $90. The reserve requirement therefore acts as a limit on this multiplier effect.

The money supply has different components, generally broken down into "narrow" and "broad" money. The Federal Reserve controls only the most narrow form of money, physical cash outstanding along with the reserves of banks throughout the country (known as M0 or the monetary base). Discussion of "money" often confuses the different measures and may lead to misguided commentary on monetary policy and misunderstandings of policy discussions.

Federal Reserve and Money Supply

The Federal Reserve has three main mechanisms for manipulating the money supply. It can buy or sell treasury securities. Selling securities would have the effect of reducing the money supply (because it accepts money in return for purchase of securities). Purchasing treasury securities would increase the money supply (because it pays out hard currency in exchange for accepting securities). Secondly, the discount rate can be changed. And finally, the Federal Reserve can adjust the reserve requirement.

Assuming a closed economy, where foreign capital or trade does not effect the money supply, when interest rates go down, money supply increases. Businesses and consumers have a lower cost of capital and can increase spending and capital improvement projects. This is encourages growth. Conversely, when interest rates go up, the money supply falls and reins in the economy. The Federal reserve increases interest rates to combat inflation.

Money creation

Currently, the US government maintains over 800 billion US dollars in cash money (primarily Federal Reserve Notes) in circulation throughout the world, whereas in 1959, there was less than 30 billion dollars; going back even further, the money supply was less than 20 billion dollars in 1933. Thus, the money supply has grown by more than 750 billion dollars since 1933. Below is an outline of the process which is currently used to control the amount of money in the economy. The amount of money in circulation generally increases to accommodate money demanded by the growth of the country's production. This monetary policy is implemented by the Federal Reserve System - the quasi-public central bank of the United States.

1. In order to raise additional money to cover excess spending, Congress increases the size of the National Debt by issuing securities typically in the form of a Treasury Bond (see Treasury security). It offers the Treasury security for sale, and someone pays cash to the government in exchange. Banks are often the purchasers of these securities.
2. The 12-person Federal Open Market Committee, that consist of the heads of the Federal Reserve System, meets eight times a year to determine how they would like to influence the economy. They create a plan called the country's "monetary policy" which sets targets for things such as interest rates.
3. Banks go through their daily transactions. Of the total money deposited at banks, significant and predictable proportions often remain deposited, and may be referred to as "core deposits." Banks decide to make use of the bulk of "non-moving" money (their stable deposit base) by loaning it out. Banks do have a legal requirement to keep a certain percentage of money on-hand at all times.
4. According to the estimates in its plan for the US Economy, the Federal Reserve places an order for money with the US Treasury Department. The Treasury Department sends these requests to its operations called the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (to make paper dollar bills) and the Bureau of the Mint (to stamp the coins).
5. The US Treasury sells this newly printed money to the Federal Reserve for the cost of printing. This is about 6 cents per bill, including the $100 bills. Aside from printing costs, the Federal Reserve must pledge collateral (typically government securities such as Treasury bonds) to put new money, which does not replace old notes, into circulation.
6. Every business day, the Federal Reserve System engages in Open market operations. If, due to monetary policy, the Federal Reserve desires to increase the money supply, it will buy securities (such as US Treasury Bonds) from the banks in exchange for dollars. If the Federal Reserve desires to decrease the money supply, it will sell securities to the banks in exchange for dollars.
7. Due to Open market operations, the Federal Reserve affects the free reserves of commercial banks in the country. Anna Schwartz explains that "if the Federal Reserve increases reserves, a single bank can make loans up to the amount of its excess reserves, creating an equal amount of deposits".
8. Since banks have more free reserves, they may loan out the money, because holding the money would amount to accepting the cost of foregone interest and commercial banks generally act to avoid such opportunity costs. When a loan is granted, a person is generally granted the money by adding to the balance on their bank account. As a Superintendent of Maine's Department of Banks and Banking once explained, "a commercial bank is able to make a loan by simply creating a new demand deposit (so called checkbook money) through bookkeeping entry."
9. This is how additional money is placed into the hands of the public --- through bank loans; as written in a particular case study, "as banks increase or decrease loans, the nation's money supply increases or decreases." Once granted these additional funds, the recipient has the option to withdraw physical currency (dollar bills and coins) from the bank.

The Fed's primary method of affecting the amount of money in the economy is through the use of open market operations,; however, open market operations only serve an indirect role in changing the money supply.The open market operations really affect the amount of money that banks have available to lend.. When banks have more free reserves they generally act to make more loans, which increases the money supply. When banks have less free reserves they generally make fewer loans and decrease the size of the money supply. The Federal Reserve acts to control money supply growth by influencing an increase or decrease in bank loans.

It should be noted that the Federal Reserve distributes and the Treasury creates all physical cash, but the Federal Reserve can only influence the money supply, as money is really created by commercial banks through the money multiplier mechanism. Basic economics also teaches that money is destroyed when loans are repaid, and that loans must be renewed or the supply of money would shrink. One textbook summarizes the process as follows:

"The Fed" controls the money supply in the United States by controlling the amount of loans made by commercial banks. New loans are usually in the form of increased checking account balances, and since checkable deposits are part of the money supply, the money supply increases when new loans are made ...

It is this money created from loans which are later converted into printed money and coins, when depositors request cash withdrawals from banks. As noted above, the US money supply has experienced an increase of more than 750 billion dollars under the influence of the Federal Reserve. It follows that most of the basic money supply in the United States also requires a cost in order to be maintained.For the vast majority of US money in circulation, each of the printed US dollars throughout the world represents a current outstanding loan of some citizen to a US bank.

measured by M1 statistics --see reference

Though the Federal Reserve Banks are private corporations, the Board of Governors which directs them is composed of seven Federal employees, whom are required to be independent of the banking sector.

Economists broadly agree that commercial banks affect the money supply through their ability to create money by lending.

see references Checking account balances at US banks similarly represent the result of a bank loan. Also a very small amount of US currency still exists as "United States Notes", which differ from the money created by the Federal Reserve System. The official designation for the currency distributed by the Federal Reserve are "Federal Reserve Notes."

Monetary policy

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Occasional deficit spending is a requirement in a growing economy. The current economic process uses Treasury Securities which only exist when the nation is in debt. In 2005, the Federal Reserve held approximately 9% of the national debt in order to support the monetary base. Experts are hopeful that other assets could take the place of National Debt as the fundamental basis, and Alan Greenspan, long the head of the Federal Reserve, has been quoted as saying, "I am confident that U.S. financial markets, which are the most innovative and efficient in the world, can readily adapt to a paydown of Treasury debt by creating private alternatives with many of the attributes that market participants value in Treasury securities."

There are costs associated with maintaining the money that is printed by the government. More specifically, interest must be paid for the money authorized by the Federal Reserve. Noted economist, Herman Daly, explains "Over 95% of our money supply is created by the private banking system (demand deposits) and bears interest as a condition of its existence." The interest costs are owed by those that have borrowed from US banks for their loan--the loan is required in order for money to be injected into the economy, and even simply for existing money to be maintained (as noted in "Step 9" in the above process). In 2003, bank loans averaged an interest rate of 9%., which also closely matches the 9.84% average interest rate drawn from FDIC data spanning the 21 years from 1980 through 2001 .

Growth of the supply of money in the US must be matched with an equal amount of interest-bearing debt in the country. This concept is referred to as a "staggering thought" in a book by noted economist, Irving Fisher.

If the total amount of loans were repaid to banks, then the money supply would shrink. These important steps appear to widely misunderstood, according to the volume of literature on topics such as "Federal Reserve conspiracy" and "Federal Reserve fraud."

Irving Fisher's book 100% Money includes a quote from Robert Hemphill, a credit manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The quote is

If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash, or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost incredible—-but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied soon.

Opinions of the Federal Reserve

Use of monetary policy is held in mixed regard. The Federal Reserve is lauded by some economists, while being the target of scathing criticism by other economists, legislators, and sometimes members of the general public.

Historic Accolades

One of the functions of a central bank is to facilitate the transfer of funds through the economy, and the Federal Reserve System is largely responsible for the efficiency in the banking sector. There have also been specific instances which put the Federal Reserve in the spotlight of public attention. For instance, after the stock market crash in 1987, the actions of the Fed are generally believed to have aided in recovery. Also, the Federal Reserve is credited for easing tensions in the business sector with the reassurances given following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Criticisms

Accountability

There exists dispute about the accountability of this entire process. Some confusion can arise because there are many types of audits, including: investigative or fraud audits; and financial audits, which are audits of accounting statements; there are also compliance, operational, and information system audits. In one case, a myth debunker documents how the Federal Reserve system is audited and cites numerous instances of independent inspection by private accounting firms and the Government Accountability Office. This debunker's website then also lists the legal exemptions to outside audit, "Exemptions to the Scope of GAO Audits:The Government Accounting Office does not have complete access to all aspects of the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Banking Agency Audit Act (31 USCA §714) stipulates the following areas are to be excluded from GAO inspections: "(2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, open market operations."

The same author also can be quoted in one related article as saying "in terms of monetary policy, the most important power is ... open market operations." The GAO certainly does have the power to conduct audits, but one author noted that 'the GAO audit is extremely limited: it can only examine the Fed’s 'administrative expenses.'" Additionally, one Federal Reserve detractor cites a newspaper article as providing more evidence about a lack of accountability within the system.

...In The Wall St. Journal Dec.10 '93 pB5B western edition and p A7B eastern edition. The title is: "Fed's Audit System Needs Big 'Revisions,'Inspector General Says" I won't quote the entire text but I'll quote enough to prove my point. ... The Federal Reserve's system for auditing its 12 reserve banks is too cozy and needs 'major revisions'. ... The problem...is that the Fed's Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payments Systems is responsible both for the day-to-day oversight of reserve banks and for auditing them. This dual responsibility doesn't meet impartiality standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, according to the Fed's inspector general, Brent Bowen. 'We believe there is an appearance of a lack of independence,' his report says. It proposes that the Fed either fully segregate the audit program or hire an outside auditor."

As the New York Times summarized in 1989, "such transactions are now shielded from outside audit, although the Fed influences interest rates through the purchase of hundreds of billions of dollars in Treasury securities."

The Federal Reserve's annual financial statements are audited by an outside auditor. Similar to other government agencies, the Federal Reserve maintains an Office of the Inspector General, whose mandate includes conducting and supervising "independent and objective audits, investigations, inspections, evaluations, and other reviews of Board programs and operations." The Inspector General's audits and reviews are available on the Federal Reserve's website. With legal exemptions applying to the primary mechanism that is used to move tremendous amounts of money through the economy, it remains unclear how comprehensive audits have been in ensuring integrity; however, despite any issues of trust many experts still agree that insulation of monetary policy from political wrangling is in the best interest of the citizens.

Fulfilment of Goals

Another criticism is that exercise of monetary policy in the United States has not achieved consistent success in meeting the goals that have been delegated to the Federal Reserve System by Congress.

Goals of Monetary Policy

Sustainable growth, High employment, Stable prices

Throughout the period of the Federal Reserve's existence, the relative weight given to each of these goals has changed, depending on political developments. In addition, interpretations of how best to implement these goals has also changed substantially, driven by academic developments, research, and the advent of unforeseen economic and financial developments, from the Great Depression to the Second World War and the development of the Bretton Woods system, including abandonment of the Gold Standard in most major Western economies. In particular, the theories of Keynesianism and monetarism have had great influence on both the theory and implementation of monetary policy, and the "prevailing wisdom" or consensus view of the economic and financial communities has changed over the years.

1. High employment - The depression of the late 1920's is generally regarded as being the worst in the country's history and it occurred a significant time after the institution of the system along with some cycles of recession, which have caused a negative impact on employment levels during those times.
2. Stable prices - While some economists would regard any consistent inflation as a sign of unstable prices, policymakers could be satisfied with 1 or 2%; the consensus of "price stability" constituting long-run inflation of 1-2% is, however, a relatively recent development, and a change that has occurred at other central banks throughout the world. Long-term price stability has not yet been achieved in nearly 100 years of operation under the Federal Reserve System (as analyzed using historical CPI measures). Historic inflation has averaged a 3.4% increase annually since the establishment of the Federal Reserve, along with numerous yearly swings of 10% or more. In contrast, some research indicates that average inflation for the 250 years before the system was near zero percent, though there were likely sharper upward and downward spikes in that timeframe as compared with more recent times.
3. Sustainable growth - The growth of the economy may not be sustainable as the ability for households to save money has been on an overall decline and household debt is consistently rising.

Public Confusion

The Federal Reserve has established a library of information on their websites, however, many experts have spoken about the general level of public confusion that still exists on the subject of the economy; this lack of understanding of macroeconomic questions and monetary policy, however, exists in other countries as well. John Maynard Keynes even said of an inflationary economic system that it "engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." Critics of the Fed widely regard the system as being "opaque," and one of the most vehement opponents, Congressman Louis T. McFadden, even went so far as to say that "Every effort has been made by the Federal Reserve Board to conceal its powers..." There are, on the other hand, many economists who support the need for the Federal Reserve corporations, and some have established websites that aim to clear up confusion about the economy. The Federal Reserve website itself publishes various information and instructional materials for a variety of audiences.

Artificial Influences

Though not limited to only the United States, some free market economists, especially those belonging to the Austrian School criticize the very idea of monetary policy, believing that it distorts investment. In the free market interest rates will be set by saver's time preference. If there is a high time preference this means that savers will have a strong preference for consuming goods now rather than saving for them. Thus interest rates will rise due to the low supply of savings. With low time preference interest rates will fall. The interest rates send signals to businessmen as to what is worth investing in, low interest rates will mean that more capital is invested.

Monetary policy means that the interest rates no longer represent consumer time preferences and so investments are made by businessmen with the wrong signals. Lower than market interest rates will therefore mean a higher investment than the economy desires. This will mean that there will be capital goods that have been over invested, and will need to be liquidated. This liquidation is the cause of the depression that makes for the business cycle.

See also

• Austrian School
• Debt
• Free banking
• Hard currency
• Monetarism
• Monetary policy
• Money supply
• Soft currency
• Treasury bills

References

1. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/great-depression-blogging/ Paul Krugman, "Great Depression Blogging," January 17, 2008: "Monetary base only gets created or destroyed through Fed actions.
2. "How Currency Gets into Circulation". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
3. "Money Stock Measures". Federal Reserve, Board of Governors. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
4. "Frequently Asked Questions about the Public Debt". U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
5. "The Federal Reserve's Beige Book". The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
6. "The Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy and the Economy". The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
7. ^ Schenk, Robert, Ph.D. "From Commodity to Bank-Debt Money". Retrieved 2008-01-07. Professor of Economics{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. "Reserve Requirements". Retrieved 2008-01-07.
9. "Money Facts". United States Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
10. Davies, Phil. "Right on Target". Retrieved 2008-01-07. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
11. ^ "Reserve Requirements". Retrieved 2008-01-10. Federal Reserve Bank of New York
12. ^ Schwartz, Anna J. "Money Supply". The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Retrieved 2008-01-11. If the Federal Reserve increases reserves, a single bank can make loans up to the amount of its excess reserves, creating an equal amount of deposits
13. ^ Nichols, Dorothy M (1961). Modern Money Mechanics. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-01-11. The actual process of money creation takes place primarily in banks.(1) As noted earlier, checkable liabilities of banks are money. These liabilities are customers' accounts. They increase when customers deposit currency and checks and when the proceeds of loans made by the banks are credited to borrowers' accounts. {{cite book}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help); Unknown parameter |archicedate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. ^ "A Case Study: The Federal Reserve System and Monetary Policy". Retrieved 2008-01-11. As banks increase or decrease loans, the nation's money supply increases or decreases.
15. ^ "MONEY MULTIPLIER". Retrieved 2008-01-11. ... borrowers are also inclined to convert checkable deposits into currency.
16. "The First 90 Years of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston". Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Retrieved 2008-01-11. Open market operations become the primary tool for carrying out monetary policy, with discount rate and reserve requirement changes used as occasional supplements.
17. Simons, Howard L. "Don't Blame (or Credit) the Fed". Retrieved 2008-01-11. Too many of us believe the Federal Reserve creates money through its open market operations, the buying and selling of Treasury securities. This is certainly a contributory factor, but it is only part of the story.
18. "Open Market Operations". Federal Reserve Bank of Mew York. Retrieved 2008-01-11. Open market operations enable the Federal Reserve to affect the supply of reserve balances in the banking system.
19. Schwartz, Anna J. "Money Supply". The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Retrieved 2008-01-11. The Federal Reserve uses open-market operations to either increase or decrease reserves.
20. ^ Simons, Howard L. "Don't Blame (or Credit) the Fed". Retrieved 2008-01-11. The Federal Reserve's open market operations affect the level of free reserves in the banking system. It is the lending of these free reserves throughout the banking system that expands the supply of credit.
21. Everett, Ray, Dr, ECONOMICS: THEORY AND PRACTICE (Seventh ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc, retrieved 2008-01-11{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
22. ^ Daly, Herman. "Ecological Economics: The Concept of Scale and Its Relation to Allocation, Distribution, and Uneconomic Growth" (PDF). University of Maryland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
23. Mings, Turley; Marlin, Matthew, The Study of Economics: Principles, Concepts & Applications (Sixth Edition ed.), The McGraw-Hill Companies {{citation}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
24. Cunningham, Steve, Ph.D, ECON 111 Principles of Macroeconomics: Lecture Notes, Kent State University, archived from the original on 2008-01-07, retrieved 2008-01-07{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
25. Upton, Ph.D, Charles W; Chase, Greg, Principles of Macroeconomics: Lecture Notes, Kent State University, retrieved 2008-01-07
26. "Is the Federal Reserve a privately owned corporation?". Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved 2008-01-12. the 12 Federal Reserve Banks are chartered as private corporations
27. "Court Rules Federal Reserve is Privately Owned". Retrieved 2008-01-06.
28. "Frequently Asked Questions: board of governors". Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
29. Schenk, Robert E., Ph.D. "From Commodity to Bank-Debt Money". Retrieved 2008-01-11. Money creation was a by-product of the making of the loan.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
30. Perelman, Michael. "The neglected economics of trust". American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Oct, 1998. Retrieved 2008-01-06. The bank hath benefit of all the interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing
31. ^ Puplava, Jim. "BUBBLE TROUBLES". Retrieved 2008-01-16. If all bank loans were repaid, no one would have a bank deposit.
32. Murphy, Robert P. "The Mystery of Central Banking". Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved 2008-01-12. ...ultimately the Federal Reserve creates new deposits for major banks out of an accounting vacuum, and then allows its privileged clients to use these new deposits as the collateral with which the client banks issue new credit to borrowers
33. Roy, Udayan. "Introduction to Economics". Long Island University. Archived from the original on 2008-01-12. Retrieved 2008-01-12. Ultimately all of the newly printed cash must end up as required reserves.
34. ^ Potter, Christopher K. "Gold Money - Determining an Appropriate US Dollar Exchange Rate". Retrieved 2008-01-12. In either case, the effect on the money supply is the same. All the newly created dollars enter the banking system which then lends them to borrowers
35. "How Currency Gets into Circulation". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Retrieved 2008-01-11. Virtually all of currency notes in use are Federal Reserve notes.
36. "Who are the largest holders of U.S. public debt?". Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
37. "What will happen to the Fed if the national debt is paid off?". Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
38. "FDIC Banking Review". Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
39. Schmitt, Elizabeth Dunne. "Myths vs. Realties for the United States Federal Reserve System". Retrieved 2008-01-09. Professor of Economics
40. "Financial Instability and the Federal Reserve as a Liquidity Provider". Retrieved 2008-01-06.
41. Flaherty, Edward, Ph.D. "Myth #6: The Federal Reserve has never been audited". Retrieved 2008-01-06. Professor of Economics{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
42. Mitchell, Joseph Pershing. "The Central Bankers: Administrative Legitimacy and the Federal Reserve System". Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. pp. pg 142. Retrieved 2008-01-06. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
43. Hanson, Paul C. "INFLATION IN LAYMAN'S TERMS". Retrieved 2008-01-06.
44. UCHITELLE, LOUIS. "Moves On in Congress to Lift Secrecy at the Federal Reserve". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
45. http://www.federalreserve.gov/oig/oig_mission.htm
46. http://www.federalreserve.gov/oig/oig_rpt_2007.htm
47. "THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD (Senate - March 26, 1996)". Retrieved 2008-01-06.
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50. "Monetary Policy". Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
51. http://books.google.com/books?id=DktBcxprXaEC Allan H. Metzler, A History of the Federal Reserve.
52. Bernanke, Ben S. "Money, Gold, and the Great Depression". Federal Reserve Board. Retrieved 2008-01-06. Governor, Federal Reserve
53. Flaherty, Edward, Ph.D. "The Legendary Tirade of Louis T. McFadden". Retrieved 2008-01-06. Professor of Economics{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
54. "Low Inflation or No Inflation". Retrieved 2008-01-06.
55. Anderson, Richard G. "Inflation's Economic Cost: How Large? How Certain?". Retrieved 2008-01-06. Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
56. "Consumer Price Index, 1913-". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
57. Sahr, Robert. "Inflation Conversion Factors for Dollars 1665 to Estimated 2017". Retrieved 2008-01-06. Assoc. Professor of Political Science
58. "Personal Saving Rate". U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
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61. "AN ASTOUNDING EXPOSURE". Retrieved 2008-01-06.

External links

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Savings rate viz Fed rate from 1954 Historical relationship between the savings rate and the Fed rate - since 1954
• USA Fed rate behavior under various presidencies since 1954
• Wages and Benefits: Real Wages (1964-2004)
• The Fallout from Falling US Wages
• Grandfather Economic Report series

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