This article is a part of the FTC Rulemaking on Unfair Methods of Competition symposium. In an effort to fight inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee raised interest rates to 20% over the course of 1980 and 1981, triggering a recession that threw more than 4 million Americans, many in well-paying manufacturing jobs, out of work. As it continues to do today, the committee met in secret and explained its rate decisions in a handful of paragraphs.