You pick, we debate. You get to be Pro.

I accept. We will be debating the following: Resolved: The Federal Open Market Committee should not raise short-term interest rates in June 2015 I'll give some basic definitions and clarifications in this round, per CON's request, though he hasn't asked me to go first, so I'll save my case for the following round. Some basic background information can be found here: . http://www.reuters.com...DefinitionsFederal Open Market Committee: "The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of twelve members--the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and four of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. The rotating seats are filled from the following four groups of Banks, one Bank president from each group: Boston, Philadelphia, and Richmond; Cleveland and Chicago; Atlanta, St. Louis, and Dallas; and Minneapolis, Kansas City, and San Francisco. Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents attend the meetings of the Committee, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the Committee's assessment of the economy and policy options. The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings per year. At these meetings, the Committee reviews economic and financial conditions, determines the appropriate stance of monetary policy, and assesses the risks to its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth. " [. http://www.federalreserve.gov...] In other words, the FOMC is composed of 7 members of the Board of Governors, appointed by the President and confirmed by the U. S. Senate, an 12 regional bank presidents. As for the "voting" FOMC, or the members who are able to actively vote on and impact the policy process, we have the 7 board members, the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and 4 of the remaining 11 regional bank presidents who rotate on and off the voting FOMC. They meet regularly in order to consider the economic outlook and craft monetary policy, primarily through setting a target range for the federal funds rate. Federal Funds Rate: "The interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight. The federal funds rate is generally only applicable to the most creditworthy institutions when they borrow and lend overnight funds to each other. The federal funds rate is one of the most influential interest rates in the U. S. economy, since it affects monetary and financial conditions, which in turn have a bearing on key aspects of the broad economy including employment, growth and inflation. " [. http://www.investopedia.com...]The federal funds rate, or FFR, is the rate at which banks lend reserves to each other in the overnight market. It's a benchmark short-term interest rate that influences a number of other interest rates in the economy, so the Fed buys and sells securities, conventionally, in order to set a target range for the federal funds rate with the intention of influencing business and household activity. When times are bad, the Fed usually cuts the federal funds rate to stimulate borrowing, lending, and consumption. When times are good, and the Fed is worried about inflation, they'll tend to raise the target range for the federal funds rate in order to reduce investment and consumption and prevent the economy from overheating. Since December 2008, the Fed has kept the federal funds rate at its zero lower bound of 0 to 1/4 percent [. http://www.economist.com...]. As a result, it wasn't able to cut the federal funds rate any further, so it began easing with unconventional measuring, known as quantitative easing (purchasing large quantities of assets to impact long-term interest rates) and forward guidance (promising to maintain the federal funds rate at low levels for an extended period of time). The Resolution The resolution is normative in nature, with both CON and I attempting to take the side of a contentious monetary-policy debate. Therefore, the burden of proof will be equally shared. CON must argue that the Fed should increase the federal funds rate, and thus short-term rates, at its June policy meeting while I will argue that it should not, though this does not require me to specify a specific date. For the purposes of fairness, I would not be advocating the Fed raise rates either earlier or in September. This should be enough clarification as to what we are debating. If CON would like anything further, I'd be happy to provide it in the comments section or by PM.