It's a pleasure to be back in Knoxville and at the University of Tennessee. As you may know, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the monetary policy-setting body of the Federal Reserve, has two overriding objectives. They are promoting stable prices and fostering maximum employment. The achievement and the balancing of these two objectives are always front-and-center concerns of the FOMC. The focus of my remarks today will be on how I view the status of this balancing act in the context of the FOMC's current program of open-ended asset purchases. I will give particular attention to the state of the employment ... (full story)