Introduction The American economy has many components which contribute to its growth and which affect its rate of inflation, but the overriding stimuli stem from the monetary and fiscal controls imposed by the Federal Reserve and government, respectively. The economy has enjoyed modest growth for several years, and that can be expected to continue. The Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates in late 1999 or early 2000 in order to keep the rate of inflation down; this research considers the reasons that this is likely. The Federal Reserve sets interest rates by mandating the rates at which Federal Reserve banks loan funds to other institutions. These rates t