Thanks for the introduction, Howard, and thank you for the invitation to join you here today. It’s a pleasure to be back in Fargo. I’ll kick things off with some basics about the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee (the FOMC). But the plan is for us to spend the bulk of our evening on your questions. One key point before I start: The views I express today are my own and are not necessarily those of others in the Federal Reserve System, including my colleagues on the FOMC. In terms of basics about the Fed: I like to tell people that the Fed is a uniquely American institution. What do I mean by ... (full story)