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The Federal Reserve: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

What Is the Federal Reserve?The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. Also known as “The Fed,” it is in charge of the country’s monetary policies. It also designs fiscal policies with the goal of achieving a healthy economy with…

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The Federal Reserve is “the bank to the nation’s banks"

Wysiati from Getty Images Signature; Canva

What Is the Federal Reserve?

The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. Also known as “The Fed,” it is in charge of the country’s monetary policies. It also designs fiscal policies with the goal of achieving a healthy economy with low prices and maximum employment.

Which 3 Entities Make Up the Federal Reserve?

  1. The Board of Governors oversees the Federal Reserve system—including setting target interest rates known as the discount rate. It also controls reserve requirements. Governors are appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The chair serves as executive officer and reports to the U.S. Congress about the U.S. economy.
  2. The 12 Federal Reserve Banks are the operating arm of the Federal Reserve. They act as the fiscal agents to the U.S. government as well as serve as “the bank to the nation’s banks” by lending money, printing and circulating currency, processing millions of checks and other deposits, and redeeming government securities.
  3. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) manages open market operations by buying and selling securities. It meets eight times per year. The FOMC is made up of the Board of Governors, the president of the Reserve Bank of New York and presidents of 4 of the remaining 11 Reserve Banks, who serve rotating, one-year terms.

What Does the Federal Reserve do?

The Federal Reserve has three main functions.

  1. It conducts the nation’s monetary policy
  2. It ensures stability of our financial markets
  3. It regulates financial institutions

The Federal Reserve operates under a mandate from Congress to “promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long term interest rates," according to the Richmond Regional Bank.

Who Is the Current Chair of the Federal Reserve?

Jerome Powell became Fed Chair on February 5, 2018. His term extends through February, 2022.

What Does the FOMC Do?

It’s the job of the FOMC to monitor the U.S. economy and adjust interest rates accordingly. After the Financial Crisis of 2008, the FOMC has taken on additional responsibilities including quantitative easing, which was a large-scale buyback of U.S. Treasuries designed to increase liquidity, keep long-term interest rates low, and foster economic recovery. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the FOMC has repeatedly stated that it would begin “tapering,” or reducing, these buybacks in order to stem inflation.

How Does the Federal Reserve Set Monetary Policy?

The Fed requires depository institutions, like banks, thrifts, and credit unions, to keep a certain amount of the cash deposits they have on-hand as reserves. These reserve requirements are also known as federal funds.

When an institution’s reserves exceed what they need, they may lend some of their federal funds to other financial institutions, so that they, too, can meet reserve requirements. The rate of interest by which they make these loans is known as the federal funds rate.

The Fed calculates a bank’s reserve requirements as a ratio based upon its liabilities. The federal funds rate is based on simple supply and demand for these federal funds. The rate fluctuates, and so, at its eight yearly meetings, the FOMC sets a target rate.

Changes to the federal funds rate, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on every aspect of the financial markets. It affects short-term and long-term interest rates as well as foreign exchange rates. It also impacts broader economic variables, such as employment. For example, a lower fed funds rate makes borrowing more attractive for businesses so they can hire more workers, open new offices, increase output or production processes, etc.

Fed Funds Rate vs Discount Rate

It might seem confusing, but the federal funds rate is not the same as the discount rate. The discount rate is the rate of interest the Fed charges banks who borrow from it directly, and the method of accessing these funds is called the discount window. The Discount Rate is usually set at a higher rate of interest than the federal funds rate because the Fed wants to encourage banks to lend and borrow from each other. 

How Is the Federal Reserve Structured?

The Federal Reserve Board is made up of seven Governors, including its chair. It is based in Washington, DC. The 12 Federal Banks are organized by economic area. They monitor data and economic conditions broken down into the following regions:

  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Cleveland
  • Dallas
  • Kansas City
  • Minneapolis
  • New York
  • Philadelphia
  • Richmond
  • San Francisco
  • St. Louis

When Is the Next Fed Meeting? Fed Meeting Calendar 2021–2022

The FOMC meets 8 times per year and additionally as needed. It publishes its policy statements on the same day as its meetings. Meeting minutes are then published 3 weeks later.

Upcoming FOMC Meeting Dates

  • December 14–15, 2021
  • January 25–26, 2022
  • March 15–16, 2022
  • May 3–4, 2022
  • June 14–15, 2022
  • July 26–27, 2022
  • September 20–21, 2022
  • November 1–2, 2022
  • December 13–14, 2022

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Did you know the Federal Reserve operates independently from the federal government? Read on for more fascinating Fed FAQs.

Why Was the Fed Created?

A banking panic in 1907 caused a run on banking resources. Up until then, different financial crises would cause customers to literally run to the bank to withdraw their deposits, which devastated the banking industry. In 1913, Congress created the Federal Reserve Act, which established the Federal Reserve system as we know it. President Woodrow Wilson signed the act into law on December 23, 1913. 

Who Is in Charge of the Federal Reserve?

The Federal Reserve is not a federal entity. While the Federal Reserve was created by Congress, the Board of Governors is an independent agency, and the 12 Federal Reserve Banks are run like private corporations. 

How Does the Federal Reserve Increase the Monetary Supply?

When the Fed lowers the reserve requirement for a bank, it effectively creates more liquidity in the financial markets, thus increasing the monetary supply. Its Treasury security buybacks also increase reserves, putting more cash back into circulation. 

What Is the Maximum Employment Rate? And What Is the Desired Inflation Rate?

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco defines “maximum employment” as an unemployment rate of 4% or less. A consistent average rate of 2% inflation is the target rate the Fed strives to maintain. 

How Does the Fed Affect the Stock Market?

Institutions and individuals alike typically view a decrease in interest rates as a cause to celebrate, and stock prices tend to rise as a result. Lower interest rates typically spur economic growth and add more money into consumer’s pockets, which, in turn, can fuel additional spending and, thus, growth. 

What Is a Federal Reserve Note? Is It Backed by Gold?

A Federal Reserve note is a currency issued by the Fed that’s backed by gold. These notes are usually worth their face value, although some historic notes, such as those from 1928, are more valuable. 

Are Federal Reserve Employees Federal Employees?

The Federal Reserve is independent of the federal government. Employees of the Federal Reserve are not federal government employees; they continue to work even in the event of a government shutdown.

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Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super…

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Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super Tuesday primaries have got it right. Barring cataclysmic changes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2024.

(Left) President Joe Biden delivers remarks on canceling student debt at Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2024. (Right) Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands on stage during a campaign event at Big League Dreams Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 27, 2024. (Mario Tama/Getty Images; David Becker/Getty Images)

With Nikki Haley’s withdrawal, there will be no more significantly contested primaries or caucuses—the earliest both parties’ races have been over since something like the current primary-dominated system was put in place in 1972.

The primary results have spotlighted some of both nominees’ weaknesses.

Donald Trump lost high-income, high-educated constituencies, including the entire metro area—aka the Swamp. Many but by no means all Haley votes there were cast by Biden Democrats. Mr. Trump can’t afford to lose too many of the others in target states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Majorities and large minorities of voters in overwhelmingly Latino counties in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and some in Houston voted against Joe Biden, and even more against Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Returns from Hispanic precincts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts show the same thing. Mr. Biden can’t afford to lose too many Latino votes in target states like Arizona and Georgia.

When Mr. Trump rode down that escalator in 2015, commentators assumed he’d repel Latinos. Instead, Latino voters nationally, and especially the closest eyewitnesses of Biden’s open-border policy, have been trending heavily Republican.

High-income liberal Democrats may sport lawn signs proclaiming, “In this house, we believe ... no human is illegal.” The logical consequence of that belief is an open border. But modest-income folks in border counties know that flows of illegal immigrants result in disorder, disease, and crime.

There is plenty of impatience with increased disorder in election returns below the presidential level. Consider Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with nearly 10 million people, more people than 40 of the 50 states. It voted 71 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020.

Current returns show county District Attorney George Gascon winning only 21 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan primary. He’ll apparently face Republican Nathan Hochman, a critic of his liberal policies, in November.

Gascon, elected after the May 2020 death of counterfeit-passing suspect George Floyd in Minneapolis, is one of many county prosecutors supported by billionaire George Soros. His policies include not charging juveniles as adults, not seeking higher penalties for gang membership or use of firearms, and bringing fewer misdemeanor cases.

The predictable result has been increased car thefts, burglaries, and personal robberies. Some 120 assistant district attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of 10,000 unprosecuted cases.

More than a dozen other Soros-backed and similarly liberal prosecutors have faced strong opposition or have left office.

St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigned last May amid lawsuits seeking her removal, Milwaukee’s John Chisholm retired in January, and Baltimore’s Marilyn Mosby was defeated in July 2022 and convicted of perjury in September 2023. Last November, Loudoun County, Virginia, voters (62 percent Biden) ousted liberal Buta Biberaj, who declined to prosecute a transgender student for assault, and in June 2022 voters in San Francisco (85 percent Biden) recalled famed radical Chesa Boudin.

Similarly, this Tuesday, voters in San Francisco passed ballot measures strengthening police powers and requiring treatment of drug-addicted welfare recipients.

In retrospect, it appears the Floyd video, appearing after three months of COVID-19 confinement, sparked a frenzied, even crazed reaction, especially among the highly educated and articulate. One fatal incident was seen as proof that America’s “systemic racism” was worse than ever and that police forces should be defunded and perhaps abolished.

2020 was “the year America went crazy,” I wrote in January 2021, a year in which police funding was actually cut by Democrats in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A year in which young New York Times (NYT) staffers claimed they were endangered by the publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion article advocating calling in military forces if necessary to stop rioting, as had been done in Detroit in 1967 and Los Angeles in 1992. A craven NYT publisher even fired the editorial page editor for running the article.

Evidence of visible and tangible discontent with increasing violence and its consequences—barren and locked shelves in Manhattan chain drugstores, skyrocketing carjackings in Washington, D.C.—is as unmistakable in polls and election results as it is in daily life in large metropolitan areas. Maybe 2024 will turn out to be the year even liberal America stopped acting crazy.

Chaos and disorder work against incumbents, as they did in 1968 when Democrats saw their party’s popular vote fall from 61 percent to 43 percent.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 23:20

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Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The…

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Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

Doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Washington in a file image. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”

Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”

The agency searched for such data and did not find any.

The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.

“The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.

The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.

The VA’s website claims that vaccines “help protect you from getting severe illness” and “offer good protection against most COVID-19 variants,” pointing in part to observational data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimate the vaccines provide poor protection against symptomatic infection and transient shielding against hospitalization.

There have also been increasing concerns among outside scientists about confirmed side effects like heart inflammation—the VA hid a safety signal it detected for the inflammation—and possible side effects such as tinnitus, which shift the benefit-risk calculus.

President Joe Biden imposed a slate of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021. The VA was the first federal agency to implement a mandate.

President Biden rescinded the mandates in May 2023, citing a drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. His administration maintains the choice to require vaccines was the right one and saved lives.

“Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the White House said.

Some experts said requiring vaccination meant many younger people were forced to get a vaccine despite the risks potentially outweighing the benefits, leaving fewer doses for older adults.

By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that,” Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times previously.

The VA was one of just a handful of agencies to keep its mandate in place following the removal of many federal mandates.

“At this time, the vaccine requirement will remain in effect for VA health care personnel, including VA psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, and other clinical, administrative, and infrastructure support employees,” Mr. McDonough wrote to VA employees at the time.

This also includes VA volunteers and contractors. Effectively, this means that any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee, volunteer, or contractor who works in VHA facilities, visits VHA facilities, or provides direct care to those we serve will still be subject to the vaccine requirement at this time,” he said. “We continue to monitor and discuss this requirement, and we will provide more information about the vaccination requirements for VA health care employees soon. As always, we will process requests for vaccination exceptions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”

The version of the shots cleared in the fall of 2022, and available through the fall of 2023, did not have any clinical trial data supporting them.

A new version was approved in the fall of 2023 because there were indications that the shots not only offered temporary protection but also that the level of protection was lower than what was observed during earlier stages of the pandemic.

Ms. Manookian, whose group has challenged several of the federal mandates, said that the mandate “illustrates the dangers of the administrative state and how these federal agencies have become a law unto themselves.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 22:10

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate…

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate iron levels in their blood due to a COVID-19 infection could be at greater risk of long COVID.

(Shutterstock)

A new study indicates that problems with iron levels in the bloodstream likely trigger chronic inflammation and other conditions associated with the post-COVID phenomenon. The findings, published on March 1 in Nature Immunology, could offer new ways to treat or prevent the condition.

Long COVID Patients Have Low Iron Levels

Researchers at the University of Cambridge pinpointed low iron as a potential link to long-COVID symptoms thanks to a study they initiated shortly after the start of the pandemic. They recruited people who tested positive for the virus to provide blood samples for analysis over a year, which allowed the researchers to look for post-infection changes in the blood. The researchers looked at 214 samples and found that 45 percent of patients reported symptoms of long COVID that lasted between three and 10 months.

In analyzing the blood samples, the research team noticed that people experiencing long COVID had low iron levels, contributing to anemia and low red blood cell production, just two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. This was true for patients regardless of age, sex, or the initial severity of their infection.

According to one of the study co-authors, the removal of iron from the bloodstream is a natural process and defense mechanism of the body.

But it can jeopardize a person’s recovery.

When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert,” University of Oxford professor Hal Drakesmith said in a press release. “However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for red blood cells, so oxygen is transported less efficiently affecting metabolism and energy production, and for white blood cells, which need iron to work properly. The protective mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”

The research team believes that consistently low iron levels could explain why individuals with long COVID continue to experience fatigue and difficulty exercising. As such, the researchers suggested iron supplementation to help regulate and prevent the often debilitating symptoms associated with long COVID.

It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” Aimee Hanson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study, said in the press release. “What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

The research team pointed out that iron supplementation isn’t always straightforward. Achieving the right level of iron varies from person to person. Too much iron can cause stomach issues, ranging from constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain to gastritis and gastric lesions.

1 in 5 Still Affected by Long COVID

COVID-19 has affected nearly 40 percent of Americans, with one in five of those still suffering from symptoms of long COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Long COVID is marked by health issues that continue at least four weeks after an individual was initially diagnosed with COVID-19. Symptoms can last for days, weeks, months, or years and may include fatigue, cough or chest pain, headache, brain fog, depression or anxiety, digestive issues, and joint or muscle pain.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 12:50

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