The US Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It was created in 1913, when Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act. The purpose of the Federal Reserve is to ensure a stable and sound financial system in order to promote economic growth and stability.
The Fed has several tools at its disposal for achieving its goals, including setting interest rates, regulating banks and credit unions, printing currency, controlling inflation and deflationary pressures on prices, managing employment levels through monetary policy decisions such as changes in reserve requirement ratios, providing liquidity during times of market instability (such as during financial crises), and overseeing payments systems within the country.
The Board of Governors oversees all activities related to monetary policy decision-making at the Fed. This board consists of seven members appointed by the President with advice from Congress; they serve 14 year terms that are staggered every two years so that one term ends every two years allowing new members to be selected by different Presidents over time.
The Chairman is also part of this board but his or her term lasts four years instead of fourteen; he or she can only be reappointed once making them limited tenure leaders who may have less political influence than their counterparts on other boards or committees like Congress itself which can be elected into office again indefinitely if desired by voters or public opinion polls indicate enough support exists for another campaign run. At present Jerome Powell holds this position since 2018 after being nominated by President Donald Trump following Janet Yellen’s departure from it back then too – though many presidents before him had chosen Ben Bernanke prior due diligence conducted under George W Bush’s regime when Alan Greenspan left office after serving 18 consecutive years!
