Thank you, Francisco, for the kind introduction. It is an honor to be here at the Economic Club of Miami. Tonight I will talk about a topic too large to ignore: the Federal Reserve's balance sheet. Like any other bank, the Fed's balance sheet is a record of the assets and liabilities we hold. The assets are primarily Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The liabilities include all U.S. currency in circulation, reserve balances banks hold at the Fed, and the Treasury General Account. The size and composition of these holdings matter because they affect the amount of money in the banking ... (full story)