Bridget Bodner

Oh, we are here at the Federal Reserve.

I am so psyched that people who work at the Federal Reserve are in charge of making sure our economy works the way it's supposed to.

And that includes keeping prices steady, free from wild inflation.

Well, as much as they can.

I've always wanted to visit this place.

These people are my rock stars.

Whoa, it's Lisa Cook.

She's on the Board of Governors.

And we just made eye contact.

Did I mess that up?

Do you think she thought I was cool?

Not all inflation.

In fact, they say the right amount of inflation is good.

In a year, they're looking for like 2%.

Okay, so first, the Fed, as its friends call it, keeps an eye on how much things cost.

So they have this thing called a basket, as in like a shopping basket.

And every month they go out, they fill it up with a whole bunch of things like food and clothes and whatever.

And then they look at the total cost of buying all that stuff.

They see if that price is going up or down.

And if one month the basket total is, say, $150 and the next it's $175, they know inflation has arrived.