The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve responsibility for setting monetary policy. The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy--open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for the discount rate and reserve requirements, and the Federal Open Market Committee is responsible for open market operations . Using the three tools, the Federal Reserve influences the demand for, and supply of, balances that depository institutions hold at Federal Reserve Banks and in this way alters the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight. Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect other short-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, long-term interest rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables, including employment, output, and prices of goods and services.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc.htm

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 - A Legislative History
http://www.llsdc.org/FRA-LH/

FDA Pet Food Recall Products List Now Has Almost 1,000 Entries
Follow up to posting, FDA Pet Food Recall Website Updated and Expanded, see Pet Food Recall Products List - "Information current as of noon January 11, 2010. 973 entries in list - Recalls & Withdrawals for Animal & Veterinary Products."

Louis Auchincloss, a Wall Street lawyer from a prominent old New York family who became a durable and prolific chronicler of Manhattan’s old-money elite, died on January 26 night in Manhattan. He was 92. Although he practiced law full time until 1987, Mr. Auchincloss published more than 60 books of fiction, biography and literary criticism in a writing career of more than a half-century. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/nyregion/28auchincloss.html

Feedback from A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Ron Frazier (ronfraz@verizon.net)
Subject: Lego artwork
See what else you can do with Lego blocks, besides build words!: Nathan Sawaya, a 36-year-old former lawyer, has stunned the world with his incredible LEGO artworks.
From: Sarah Festger (sarahfestger@q.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
Def: Having an even number of toes on each foot.
Since I lost two toes on one foot (even number) and three toes (odd number) on the other, I figure I am ambidactyl!
From: James Miller (millnjam@yahoo.com)
Subject: artiodactyl
He had four toes, useful and tactile;
He was cool with it, 's a matter of fact he'll
Often proclaim
"Tho' Arthur's my name,
Call me Artie--Artie O'Dactyl."

Q. Is it fount of knowledge or font of knowledge?
A. Strictly speaking, 'fountain of all knowledge' is correct rather than 'fount' or 'font'. All three are used nowadays, but the original fountain version was a 17th century quote and the other two are just more modern variants of that original. The quote is from 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' by the philosopher, John Locke, published in 1690. Clearly, in it he was referring to God. "Reason is natural revelation, whereby the eternal father of light, and fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he has laid within the reach of their natural facilities." In a 14th century book, God was referred to as "the fountain of all goodness" and in the 16th century Book of Common Prayer there is a reference to "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom". http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-and-Sayings/Question325997.html

More critters are challenging Punxsutawney Phil for the crown of Groundhog Day prognosticator. In his home state of Pennsylvania, he has rivals including Octorara Orphie of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville, and Sammi II of Monroe County, who was pressed into service after Sammi I died of heatstroke after riding in a parade. Last year, Mel, a groundhog in Milltown, N.J., got into the act. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703762504575037220986428274.html

Groundhog cookies
http://www.penzeysone.com/cgi-bin/one/GroundhogR1.html

A proposal put forth by the National Association for Legal Placemen to push back the law-firm hiring process by a few months seemed at first fairly uncontroversial. But that was then. More recently, at least one firm, Jones Day, has lodged vociferous objection to the plan. Late last week, its hiring partner, Gregory Shumaker, fired off this seven-page letter to NALP, arguing that the proposed plan was not only unnecessary, but also potentially illegal. The National Association for Law Placement proposed adoption of a nationwide “offer kickoff date” in January for 2Ls hoping to land jobs for the following summer. Under the new policy, law firms would not be able to extend any summer associate offers until that time Click here for a recent National Law Journal story on the NALP move. The plan has its advocates. “I think NALP has taken a very thoughtful approach, and I think it's a step in the right direction,” Mark Webber, assistant dean for career services at Harvard Law School told the NLJ. “It slows down the frenzy quite a bit, and it gives the employers a chance to see the entire applicant pool.”
News Corp. has agreed to pay $500 million to settle four years of antitrust litigation over the company's practices in selling newspaper coupons and other marketing materials. Marketing-services firm Valassis had sued a unit of News Corp., News America Marketing, which sells coupon inserts in Sunday newspapers and in grocery-store displays. Valassis had alleged that the unit unfairly used its power with customers to gain advantages over competitors. Last year, a jury in a Michigan state court last year awarded $300 million to Valassis in related litigation, and a similar case has been pending in California. A federal-court trial was slated to begin on Tuesday.
The University of California San Diego has reportedly revived a decades-old plan to establish a law school through a partnership with San Diego-based California Western School of Law. Click here for the story, from the San Diego Union Tribune. The arrangement could range from a strengthened affiliation between the downtown San Diego private law school and the La Jolla public university to a full merger. Among the models being considered for UCSD and California Western are the law schools at Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University. Penn State did not have a law school until 2000, when it merged with Dickinson School of Law, a private institution about 100 miles away. Since then, the school has been able to recruit distinguished scholars, increase the number of student applicants and broaden student diversity. Michigan State characterizes its partnership with the former Detroit College of Law as an affiliation. The private school, renamed Michigan State University College of Law, has merged its academic policies and faculty governance with the public university. It remains financially independent and does not take any state funding. In other new-law-school news, we're just a week away from a pivotal vote on whether to create the first public law school in Massachusetts. Under the proposal, the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth would acquire the now private Southern New England School of Law.
WSJ Law Blog January 29, 2010