When was the Federal Reserve founded and why?

As all of you should have noticed in the syllabus for this course, part of the final grade is based on a research/discussion paper. The topic I have chosen for this paper is the Federal Reserve. Mores specifically, I have listed below 10 topics you need to address in this paper, which are listed below.
1. When was the Federal Reserve founded and why?
2. What are the primary duties and functions of the Federal Reserve?
3. How is the Federal Reserve structured, i.e. how are members picked and from what areas, etc.
4. What banks or financial institutions can become members of the FED?
5. How is the Board of Governors of the FED formed and what are their primary duties?
6. How is the FOMC formed and what is the primary function of this body?
7. What are the primary monetary tools of the Federal Reserve?
8. How do Open Market Operations of the FED function and what purpose do they serve?
9. Who is the current chairman and vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
10. What is the current Fed Funds rate (give a date).

You should attempt to keep the answers as should as possible while also making sure you address the topic. I do not need long winded answers to the questions listed and such will only count against you. I believe you can probably research all of these topics in the text, any outside research that is relevant is fine but I caution you to avoid directly coping any answers from the text or other sources. The point of this assignment is to develop a reasonable understanding of the functions and makeup of one of the most important financial institutions in the world. Finally, I would hope that your discussion would not require more than a few pages, single spaced.

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