On Dec. 23, the Federal Reserve System, or the Fed, celebrates 100 years of providing economic insurance for America. While that is certainly not the way most people would describe it, the function of the Federal Reserve system, as defined by the U.S. Congress, is to provide the American economy with three kinds of insurance: maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

In other words, the Federal Reserve functions to insure and assure the American people that economic professionals who specialize in high finance are going to take intelligent, responsible steps to help make sure the American economy has as many jobs as possible, has prices that are as stable as possible, and that interest rates never get too high.