How the Fed Distributes Billions of Dollars in Cash
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hey there, Oddlots listeners. It's Tracy Alloway.
And Joe Wisenthal.
We are very excited to announce that Odlots is going to Washington.
That's right. For the first time, we are going to do a live public Odlots recording in our nation's capital. That's gonna be March twelfth in Washington, DC at the Miracle Theater. And guests will be announced in the coming days, but in the meantime, you can find a ticket link at Bloomberg.com slash oddlots.
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news.
Go forward until the other door shuts.
And there's gonna be one more we gotta go through, so come on in.
Oh wow. Oh you could definitely get trapped in here and what's
the other one. This is the trap and Everyone must come in. And the door must shut. Very well. And now we can go to the next door.
Deep underground, coming through elevator, the sort of monochrome quietness, the uniforms. It's kinda reminds me of Severance a little bit. Has anyone made that observation before?
Hello and welcome to another episode of the All Thoughts Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway.
Is this the one where we get severed, Tracy? My name is Joe Wisenthal and I freely consent to being severed.
Joe, we are not getting the severance procedure, but we are about to go to a place that not many people get to see. We are going deep into the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to tour its cash operations and get an inside look at how money is actually distributed.
Oh right, yes. Okay, welcome to Cash. In this episode, we take a walk through the basement of the Chicago Fed and we learn all about how the central bank processes and delivers cash. Cash operations, while not, quote, highly classified like in the inner workings of the office and the show Severance, they're well beyond the public eye for obvious reasons. So this is a rare look or a listen, I guess, at the inside.
Yeah, and you're not actually allowed to take any pictures or videos inside the vaults. So an audio format actually does pretty well here. And this is all really interesting because we're used to thinking about the Fed in terms of monetary policy, raising or cutting interest rates to try to keep inflation in check and unemployment low. And there's stuff like bank regulation, of course, we talk a lot about that on the show. All of that can feel very theoretical, but there's this very physical side to the Fed as well.
That's totally right. The cash in your wallet has got to come from somewhere, right? And a lot of it comes from the Fed. Or at least it moves through one of the twelve Federal Reserve banks. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing actually makes the money, and then it gets delivered and processed through the Fed banks.
And the Chicago Fed building itself, I mean, it kind of looks exactly like how you might picture an old-fashioned bank. It has these giant, beautiful, neoclassical columns on the outside. And inside, inside is where the magic happens.
We set up a system in the United States with twelve reserve banks around the country because in nineteen thirteen. As today, people were deeply uncomfortable with the financial system being run exclusively by New York City and Washington D C. So they wanted input from all around the country. And one component of the job is monetary policy, like we talk about all the time.
That's Austin Goolsby, president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. And you've probably heard him on the podcast a couple of times before. Very recognizable voice. And he's usually, you know, talking about the macro environment, monetary policy, things like that.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–10:53
2
What is the purpose of the Chicago Fed cash‑operations tour?
10:53–16:54
3
How does the Federal Reserve receive and count new currency shipments?
16:54–25:50
4
What steps are involved in processing and authenticating cash at the Fed?
25:50–29:02
Speakers
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