At the top of any US dollar bill, you'll see this, that's because even though the bill may have come from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve is who actually distributes it.
They're the ones that's charged with managing the currency in circulation in our economy.
他們負責管理我們經濟中流通的貨幣。
00:17
In other words, they can kind of print money.
換句話說，他們可以算是印鈔票。
00:20
Money printer go burr, right, that was a popular meme in 2020 when the Fed was creating money out of thin air.
「印鈔機嗡嗡響」，對吧？那是2020年一個很受歡迎的迷因，當時聯準會憑空創造貨幣。
00:26
The Federal Reserve is in many ways in charge of the US economy.
聯邦準備理事會在許多方面負責美國經濟。
00:30
As a former chairman once said, they're the economy's chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up.
正如一位前主席曾經說過，他們是經濟的「監護人」，在派對氣氛正熱的時候，下令撤走潘趣酒碗。
00:38
Which means they know their decisions, like raising interest rates, aren't always popular.
這意味著他們知道他們的決定，像是升息，並非總是受歡迎的。
00:43
The Fed is just this poorly understood and really important institution in our country.
聯準會就是這樣一個鮮為人知且非常重要的國家機構。
00:48
It's important for people to know what's going on in the economy.
人們了解經濟中正在發生什麼事，是很重要的。
00:50
They should understand why we have the Fed, why it does what it does, and what role it plays in the country.
他們應該了解我們為何有聯準會、它為何做它所做的事，以及它在國家中扮演什麼角色。
00:57
So let's explain, how did the Fed get put in charge of the punch?
那麼，讓我們來解釋，聯準會是如何被賦予「管理潘趣酒」的權力？
01:03
The Fed, as we know it, has evolved over time after responses to financial crises gave it more and more responsibility.
我們所知的聯準會，在應對金融危機後，隨著時間演變，獲得了越來越多的職責。
01:10
So let's start with why the Fed was created in the first place.
那麼，我們就從聯準會最初為何被創立開始說起。
01:13
In the early 1900s, bank runs were pretty common.
在1900年代初期，銀行擠兌事件相當普遍。
01:17
If a bank, a private business, went out of business, that meant everyone lost their deposits.
如果一家銀行（一家私人企業）倒閉，這意味著所有人都會失去他們的存款。
01:22
Fearful, people would run to their healthy bank to withdraw their money.
由於恐懼，人們會跑到他們健康的銀行提領他們的錢。
01:26
Only banks didn't keep that much cash handy, so they'd fail, causing more people to fearfully run to their bank.
但銀行並沒有準備那麼多現金，所以它們會倒閉，導致更多人恐懼地跑到他們的銀行。
01:32
And back then, there was nowhere for these banks to get more cash to stop these runs.
而當時，這些銀行沒有地方可以獲得更多現金來阻止這些擠兌。
01:37
After a large run in 1907, wealthy bankers like JP Morgan put up their own money to essentially bail them out.
在1907年一次大規模擠兌之後，像摩根大通這樣的富有銀行家拿出自己的錢，實質上是為它們紓困。
01:44
After that panic in 1907, business and political leaders got together and said maybe this isn't the best way to run a modern economy, to rely on a few wealthy individuals doing the right thing in the time of crisis.
And so discussions began about creating a central bank or what became the Federal Reserve System.
於是，關於建立中央銀行，也就是後來聯邦準備系統的討論便開始了。
02:04
In 1913, the Federal Reserve was created to be the United States' central banking system, basically a bank for banks.
1913年，聯邦準備銀行成立，成為美國的中央銀行系統，基本上就是銀行的銀行。
02:12
Its 12 separate Federal Reserve banks set up all across the country.
它在全國各地設立了12家獨立的聯邦準備銀行。
02:15
You had a lot of distrust still in the country over having one bank.
當時全國對於只有一家銀行仍然存在很多不信任感。
02:20
The idea was that it might be too powerful, so you could go to different parts of the country and say, well, the power won't be in New York, it won't be in Washington, it'll be here.
There'll be a bank in Atlanta, there'll be a bank in Kansas City, there'll be a bank in San Francisco, in Minneapolis, and two in Missouri.
亞特蘭大會有一家銀行，堪薩斯城會有一家銀行，舊金山、明尼亞波利斯會有一家銀行，密蘇里州會有兩家。
02:37
There was a senator from Missouri who was instrumental in creating the Federal Reserve System, and lo and behold, there's a Fed Bank in St. Louis and in Kansas City.
The idea was they would each represent different regions of the country and would independently set their own policies and interest rates on the money banks would keep with them.
當時的想法是，它們將各自代表國家不同地區，並獨立設定自己的政策以及銀行存放在它們那裡的資金的利率。
02:55
There was also a president put in charge of each bank.
每家銀行也設有一位總裁負責。
02:59
Then, the Great Depression hid.
接著，經濟大蕭條來襲。
03:01
It's widely agreed by historians that the Federal Reserve banks in action and them keeping the circulation of money and lending too tight made the Depression worse.
And by widely agreed, nearly a century later a Fed governor said, we did it.
而所謂的普遍認同，是指近一個世紀後，一位聯準會理事說：「我們做錯了。」
03:15
There were concerns even before the Great Depression that the political compromise that had been necessary to create this thing had created too much decentralized power, nobody really was in charge.
So in 1935, Congress put the Washington-based Board of Governors in charge.
因此在1935年，國會將總部位於華盛頓的理事會（Board of Governors）置於領導地位。
03:31
It would be a group of seven people from different parts of the country, including a chairman, each nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, just like a Supreme Court justice.
This is the group of people who get together and decide things like interest rates.
這就是聚集在一起決定利率等事務的團體。
03:58
When you talk about a Fed meeting, you're talking about a meeting of the FOMC.
當你談論聯準會會議時，你談論的就是聯邦公開市場委員會的會議。
04:02
The terms become interchangeable because there are certain things that the FOMC does, there are certain things that the Fed Board does, and they all kind of blend together.
The Fed was given a dual mandate to focus on stable prices and maximum employment.
聯準會被賦予雙重使命，專注於物價穩定和最大化就業。
04:35
Now sometimes those goals conflict with each other.
有時這些目標會相互衝突。
04:38
When you're trying to crush inflation, sometimes you're going to do things that cause unemployment to go up.
當你試圖抑制通膨時，有時你會採取導致失業率上升的措施。
04:43
But the mandate really said the Fed should take both of these objectives into account when they set policy.
但這項使命實際上是說，聯準會在制定政策時，應將這兩個目標都納入考量。
04:48
This was because in the 70s, inflation was really high.
這是因為在70年代，通膨非常高。
04:52
Called the Great Inflation Now, a mix of bad luck and bad policies saw inflation reach nearly 15%.
現在被稱為「大通膨」，一連串的壞運氣和糟糕政策導致通膨率達到近15%。
04:59
There were concerns that the Fed succumbed to political pressure in the early 1970s because the Fed chair at the time Arthur Burns was friendly with the President, and Nixon did not want him to raise interest rates before his re-election in 1972.
So the whole experience of the Great Inflation reinforced this idea that we should have politically independent central banking, that generally when you kept politics out of the FOMC boardroom, you had better economic outcomes.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter put Paul Volcker in charge of the Fed, and he raised interest rates a lot, like to nearly 20%.
1979年，吉米·卡特總統任命保羅·沃爾克擔任聯準會主席，他大幅升息，甚至達到近20%。
05:38
Unemployment skyrocketed and rose above 10%, and people blamed the Fed.
失業率飆升並超過10%，人們指責聯準會。
05:45
Homebuilders would mail two-by-fours to the Fed and say, stop these oppressive interest rates.
房屋建築商會將兩乘四的木材寄給聯準會，並說：「停止這些壓迫性的利率！」
05:50
They would mail keys for cars and houses to the Fed, saying, these are homes and cars that aren't being sold.
他們會將汽車和房屋的鑰匙寄給聯準會，說：「這些是賣不出去的房屋和汽車。」
05:56
There were tractors that protested driving around the Fed's headquarters.
還有拖拉機在聯準會總部周圍抗議行駛。
06:01
History has vindicated the moves of the Volcker Fed.
歷史證明了沃爾克領導下的聯準會的舉措是正確的。
06:04
He's lionized today as this figure who did something that was really hard and really unpopular.
今天他被奉為一位做了非常艱難且極不受歡迎的事情的人物。
06:09
But if you look at the US economy over the 30 years that followed, the US economy performed better than most other advanced economies.
但如果你看看接下來30年裡的美國經濟，美國經濟的表現優於大多數其他先進經濟體。
06:18
The Fed gained credibility because it was politically independent, since politics don't always make great economic policies.
聯準會贏得了信譽，因為它保持了政治獨立性，畢竟政治並不總能制定出色的經濟政策。
06:25
And when the 2008 financial crisis arrived, the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke learned from lessons of the past.
當2008年金融危機爆發時，聯準會主席柏南奇從過去的教訓中學習。
06:31
The bold measures the Fed took in response to the recent financial crisis reflected in part its determination to avoid repeating the same sorts of mistakes it made before and during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Those bold measures included things the Fed had never done before, like dropping interest rates to near zero for the first time.
這些果斷措施包括聯準會以前從未做過的事情，例如首次將利率降至接近零的水平。
06:52
In addition to managing the currency in circulation and the occasional treasury security, it started loaning money, a lot of money, to non-banks.
除了管理流通貨幣和偶爾的國庫證券，它開始向非銀行機構放貸，而且是大量的資金。
07:00
It also got into new markets, buying things like mortgage securities, all this to pump money into the economy.
它也進入了新市場，購買抵押貸款證券等資產，所有這些都是為了向經濟注入資金。
07:07
This got the Fed even more involved in parts of the financial system, beyond just currency and interest rates.
這使得聯準會更深入地參與到金融體系的各個部分，超越了單純的貨幣和利率範疇。
07:14
One of the things Bernanke was well regarded for was that he just threw everything against the wall to see what would stick.
柏南奇備受讚譽的其中一點是，他只是把所有方法都試了一遍，看看哪些會奏效。
07:20
He made sure that it didn't get worse.
他確保情況沒有惡化。
07:21
We call it the Great Recession and not the Second Great Depression.
我們稱之為「大衰退」，而非「第二次經濟大蕭條」。
07:25
And Congress also gave it more authority of oversight and regulation of the banking system through Dodd-Frank and just kind of by default of inaction.
國會也透過《陶德-法蘭克法案》以及某種程度上因不作為而預設地，賦予了它更多監管銀行體系的權力。
07:34
Government spending retreated after the stimulus in 2009 and so there was the saying that the Fed had become the only game in town.
2009年刺激措施後，政府支出有所減少，因此有句話說，聯準會成了唯一的救星。
07:42
If you needed to stimulate your economy, you weren't going to be able to cut taxes or spend more money because Congress didn't want to do that.
如果你需要刺激經濟，你將無法減稅或增加支出，因為國會不願這麼做。
07:50
What ended up happening was that financial markets to a greater and greater degree began to hang on every word and every utterance of the Fed chair because now monetary policy was just so important to the markets and also to the economic outlook for the country.
It began loaning more money to even more non-banks and it raised the amount of money in circulation.
它開始向更多非銀行機構放貸，並增加了流通貨幣量。
08:20
What you see is a central bank that during periods of severe stress, really, national emergency is willing to do quite a lot to make sure that the economy and the financial system holds together.
Today in support of these goals, the FOMC raised its policy interest rate by one-quarter percentage point.
今天，為支持這些目標，聯邦公開市場委員會（FOMC）將其政策利率上調了0.25個百分點。
08:43
The Federal Reserve began as a response to a financial crisis and has only grown with each one since.
聯邦準備理事會最初是為應對一場金融危機而成立，此後每次危機都讓其規模不斷擴大。
08:50
Although not always without criticism.
儘管它也常受到批評。
08:52
The time has come, that's in the Fed.
時機已到，權力掌握在聯準會手中。
08:56
The Fed is primarily still a bank for banks, but it has also become the stopgap for most other parts of the financial system.
聯準會主要仍是銀行的銀行，但它也已成為金融體系大部分其他環節的應急措施。
09:04
They can make decisions quickly and without political fallout.
他們可以迅速做出決策，且不受政治影響。
09:07
To the extent you have a handful of unelected people making huge decisions about the economy, it's something that Congress and the White House, our elected leaders, have really decided over many decades to really outsource this to the Fed.
