Watch the federal reserve's interest rate decisions explained through a rube goldberg machine

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise its benchmark rate on Dec. 16, for the first time in a decade, was unanimous, but how quickly it will raise rates again is an open question

— and one that will be vigorously debated as new, more hawkish voting members of the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee take their seats in 2016, _The Wall Street Journal_

predicts. Disagreement makes sense, because trying to steer a massive market economy like America's through interest-rate adjustments and monetary supply is an arduous balancing act.

If the Federal Reserve's rate deliberations seem sort of abstruse, or make your eyes glaze over, _The New York Times_ created a Rube Goldberg machine to explain how the Fed uses a rate

hike to try to tame inflation. A complicated chain of events is actually a pretty good way to explain the intended consequences of a Federal Reserve action — you can see why stock markets

fall, for example — and if nothing else, it's always fun to watch a Rube Goldberg machine in motion. Hopefully, the inventive team at The Upshot will modify the machine to show how the

Fed tries to affect the other part of its mandate: Boosting employment. Watch below. Peter Weber SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis

from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE SIGN UP FOR THE WEEK'S FREE NEWSLETTERS From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week

delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Explore More Speed Reads