The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Leina
We had a trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on last Friday and listened to a brief presentation given by one of the staff.
I only knew a few about the Federal Reserve Banks in the past. I knew they are different from commercial banks and investment banks and they are more like the institutions which supervise the national economic activities. Once, I read an article about “the super class” in newspaper, it describes that there are a small number of people who can resolve many complex and thorny issues in a short time, and their actions are related to many other countries in the world. That article also used the example of the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner, who now is the Treasury Secretary of Obama Administration. He used to lead a group of people dealing with domestic and global economic problems, and if he is not very hard-working or intelligent, it will be catastrophic to a large number of people both in the U.S. and overseas. (By the way, I think he is the most handsome treasury secretary in the history of the United States of America. But I hope that his abilities are far beyond his appearance. Time will tell.)
Back to our trip, this presentation impressed me with the recognition of the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve System was established in 1913, and consists of 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks; most of them are located in major cities along the eastern coast. I wonder whether this kind of distribution can catch up with the speed of development of society nowadays. Maybe it still can because there are no signs to add some more in middle or western states. Although Boston is very small in size but very significant in influence, the financial, cultural, educational center of Massachusetts, of the United States.
Federal Reserve Banks are playing an important role in analyzing, adjusting national economic activities, to be precise, there are three main functions: 1.Monetary policy. 2. Payment system. 3. Banking regulation and supervision. The initial aim to set up the Federal Reserve System is to make monetary policy independent, out of government’s control. And they offer financial services such as transfer of funds but they do not print money. In addition, Federal Reserve Banks supervise and examine commercial banks that are members of this system.
Furthermore, the presenter showed us several ways to identify fake money, like concentric circles, water mark, polymer thread, color shifting ink and so on. It seems better to use credit card or debt card.
I like this kind of presentations and I really enjoy this visit because it is very meaningful and interesting to get to know more about economics for a pre-business student. And these are the aspects that I want to be familiar with. There are so many unknown things in this delicate city to observe and to explore. After all, Boston in the eyes of a student is different from that in the eyes of a visitor.