the full employment and balance growth act of 1978, better known as the humphry hawkins act set four benchmarks for the economy -- full employment, growth and production, price stability, and the balance of trade and budget. to monitor progress towards these goals, the full employment and balanced growth act of 1978 mandated that the board of governs of the federal reserve present semiannual reports to congress on the state of the u.s. economy and the nation's financial welfare. the humphry hawkins charges the federal reserve with a dual mandate, both maintaining stable prices and full employment. and since president obama took office in january of '09, the unemployment rate has gone from 7.8%, around inauguration to 10% as the impact on financial crisis spread. to 8.1% today. i do believe the u.s. economy its heading in the right direction with the proper nudge it could probably improve even more. as of march, the consumer price index was 2.7%. over the past year, a decline from february of this year of 2.9%. during the same period, the energy index has risen 4.6%, and the food inde

>> i think explicit targets can be useful's in the humphries-hawkins law there was an interim target for 4% unemployment. 3% inflation, to be achieved after four years. it took 22 until alice rivlin was running things and it actually happened, but the difficulty i think was in setting too ambitious a target and allowing too long a time frame for there to be real accountability. if you're going to set targets, it should be on an interactive base and something where you can come back in a year and say, look, how did do you in relation to those targets and what have you learned about the world from your experience? that would make a useful contribution, it seems to me. >> dr. rivlin, your opinion? >> i would agree with that. i think the 2% target is about right. i wasn't a big enthusiast of setting an explicit target, but 2% salve right. as long as you don't take it too seriously. because there might be reasons to deviate in one direction or another. >> thank you so much. mr. chairman, i yield back. >> i now recognize the gentleman from arizona for a follow-up. >> thank you. we were sor