Welcoming remarks by Governor Cook at a Fed Listens event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Thank you, President Bostic. And thank you to all of you who came out to join the Federal Reserve today. It is so wonderful to be back in my home state of Georgia. I was born and raised 100 miles down the road in Milledgeville, I have been an Atlanta baseball fan since Hank Aaron was swatting the baseball out of Fulton County Stadium (any Atlanta fans here?), and I have spent a lot of time here in Atlanta, including when I attended Spelman and Georgia Tech.¹

The Federal Reserve has been given a dual mandate of maximum employment and stables prices. The purpose of today’s Fed Listens event is to hear from all of you about how the Federal Reserve’s approach to monetary policy affects your families, your businesses, and your communities. I appreciate your interest in our work. Events like these provide valuable information to Fed policymakers, like President Bostic and me. The Federal Reserve System is really designed to be part of the communities we serve. The Fed has a Reserve Bank in every region of the U.S., and those Banks have Branches that carry out many important functions, including making sure the priorities and concerns on a local level are reflected in monetary policy decisions made in Washington.

As an economist, I am always studying incoming data and information to make the best policy decisions. Much of that comes in the form of statistics from various agencies, universities, and businesses. But another extremely valuable input comes from people, like you, who can tell us how the economy is playing out in their daily lives as they make purchases, consider investments, and think about employment choices. That is why I especially value these opportunities.

This Fed Listens event is specifically tied to the review of our long-run goals and strategy for monetary policy, which we call our framework.² It was last updated five years ago. At that time, it was determined that it makes sense to regularly revisit the framework through a public review. Thank you for being part of this today. Again, the primary purpose of this event is to listen to you all, so I will stop here.

Thank you. I look forward to hearing your input.

1. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Federal Reserve Board or the Federal Open Market Committee. Return to text

2. For more information, see the Federal Reserve Board’s website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/review-of-monetary-policy-strategy-tools-and-communications-2025.htm. Return to text