“Under a cold turkey strategy, at each policy meeting the Federal Open Market Committee would make its best guess about where it ultimately wants the funds rate to be and would move to that rate in a single step.”

The more important reason is that the research itself provides an important long-run perspective on the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis.

I come from Main Street, from a small town that’s really depressed.

Every effort needs to be made to try and offset the costs of Katrina and Rita by reductions in other government programs, especially those that are wasteful, duplicative and ineffective.

I don’t see much evidence of an equity bubble.

Education – lifelong education for everyone – from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers – is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole.

It must be awfully frustrating to get a small raise at work and then have it all eaten by a higher cost of commuting.

The impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained.

Our mission, as set forth by the Congress is a critical one: to preserve price stability, to foster maximum sustainable growth in output and employment, and to promote a stable and efficient financial system that serves all Americans well and fairly.

If you are not happy with yourself, even the loftiest achievements won’t bring you much satisfaction.

Developments in financial markets can have broad economic effects felt by many outside the markets.

Nobody likes to fail but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn’t dirty, you haven’t been in the game.

September and October of 2008 was the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression.

The more guidance a central bank can provide the public about how policy is likely to evolve the greater the chance that market participants will make appropriate inferences.

In a manner as nearly consistent as possible with full utilization of economic resources and low and stable inflation. In other words, the best way to get out of trouble is not to get into it in the first place.

Both humanity’s capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history.

The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand.. a drop in spending so severe that producers must cut prices on an ongoing basis in order to find buyers.

After obtaining pre-approval by mid-June from the Senate ethics committee, I issued a letter directing my trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock in my family’s trust.

The people here have been marvelous. The bowl committee has bent over backwards to make sure that our stay is an excellent one. The players have something to do if they choose every day. You couldn’t find a better place.

I was able to see what I wanted to do, I could see the opportunity, even when others could not, and I stay committed to doing it and doing it well, no matter what.

Those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down; those who seek to mould it and those committed to breaking it up; those who aim to open our eyes, to make us see the light and look to tomorrow […] and those who wish to lull us into closing our eyes

In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a dictator substitutes himself for the central committee.

If I were on a committee, I’d be wasting my time.

Democracy is not about making speeches. It is about making committees work.

Minnesota has a proud tradition of having two Senators on the Ag committee – a tradition I’d like very much to continue.