The Federal Reserve System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Federal Reserve System - Essay Example The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of the Board of Governors and Federal Reserve Bank Presidents. The FOMC is the monetary policymaking body that creates policy designed to stimulate economic growth, full employment, stable prices, and a sustainable pattern of international trade and payments. It makes responsible decisions concerning the open market operations. In addition, the FOMC directs system operations in foreign currencies. The Board of Governors makes decisions regarding cost and availability of money and credit in the economy. The Board regulates banks, contributes to the monetary policy, and oversees the activities of the Federal Reserve Banks. Members of the Board of Governors include Ben S. Bernanke, the Chairman; Roger E. Ferguson, Jr., the Vice Chairman, Susan Schmidt Bies, Mark W. Olson, Donald L. Kohn, Kevin M. Warsh, and Randall S. Kroszner all of whom are responsible for discount rate and reserve requirements. The responsibilities for discount rate policy are shared with the Federal Reserve Banks. In 1976, the Consumer Advisory Council, consisting of consumer and creditor representatives was established to advise the Board of Governors on consumer related issues. Before the appointment to the Board of Governors, Bernanke was one of President Bush's top economic advisers. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard and his PhD for MIT. He was a professor at Princeton University and chair of the Economic Department. As a member of the Federal Reserve Board, Bernanke is the first new Fed chairman in nearly two decades. The Federal Reserve Banks conduct research on the economy, supervise banks in their region, and provide financial services to banks and the United States government. They hold cash reserves for depository institutions and make loans to them; move currency and coins in and out of circulation; collect and process millions of checks daily; provide checking accounts for the Treasury; issue and redeem government securities; and are the fiscal agents for the United States government. The Federal Reserve Bank districts include: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Minneapolis, MN; New York, New York; St., Philadelphia, PA; Richmond, VA; and San Francisco, CA Simplistically speaking, monetary policy is used to control the cyclical fluctuations in the economy. It influences economy activities, by manipulating the supplies of money and credit, thus altering the federal funds rate. Using the three monetary tools - open market operations, discount rate, and reserve requirements, the Fed regulates the money supply. Each affects the amount of funds in the banking system. The open market operations are the purchases and sales of United States Treasury and federal agencies securities. When the Fed desires to increase reserves, it buys securities and to decrease reserve, it sells securities. Such transactions affect the amount of money and credit banks posses, which affects the interest rates and the performance of the United States economy. The discount rate is the interest charged to commercial banks and other depository institutions for loans they receive from their regional Federal Reserve Banks. When the discount rate increases the amount lending made by banks

ICT in Tourism and Hospitality Sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

ICT in Tourism and Hospitality Sector - Essay Example This essay is to evaluate the extents to which use of ICT has been embraced in the tourism and hospitality industries especially in small and medium enterprises. The paper will identify the various applications or innovations of information and communication technology that have been integrated into the mentioned industries and how they have helped in improving operations. This essay will point out the major areas of ICT advancement by use of a case study of one of the companies operating in the said industry. The selected case study is the Galle Fort Hotel in Sri Lanka. The hotel is a world recognized hospitality destination with a simplicity that has won the hearts of many people visiting the Galle Fort tourist attraction in the country. The beach hotel is owned by an Australian family with a total of 13 guest rooms and has won many awards among them the 2007 UNESCO heritage conservation award and the world travel award 2009 for being the country’s leading boutique hotel and many others. The hotel has embraced the use of ICT and has a fully functional website. This paper will closely examine its ICT use through the various applications it has employed in order to help it in the day to day operations. From early times, Sri Lanka has been a major tourist attraction for visitors across the globe. The Galle Fort Hotel is one of the best boutique hotels in the country. The hotel is built on the fortified old town of Galle that was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century. This points out to how it has been set out on a historical and world heritage site. To turn this around whilst ensuring that the area retains its rich historical and cultural heritage is definitely a great challenge. However, the hotel has adopted the use of ICT as evidenced by its presence in the internet through its official website and other social networking sites like face book.