We don't identify the specific individuals who provide the projections. Among other reasons, we want to make sure the people come to the meeting willing to talk and not wedded to a specific position.
And that's why, again, the committee makes a collective decision after using as input these projections, which are circulated to all the members of the committee before the meeting so that they can see what their colleagues -- colleagues believe.
As far as what individual members do believe, we certainly have other vehicles for expressing our views. All of us give speeches, all of us give interviews, and are -- you know, I -- I give frequent testimony. So there's plenty of opportunities to get a sense of what individual members believe.
But, again, we felt that this -- this -- this information, which prevents -- presents both the diversity of views on the committee, but also shows you where the central tendencies lie, would be useful.
And I guess I might add to that, you know, the chairman's term is not infinite. At some point there'll be a new chairman. But there's a lot more continuity on the FOMC collectively. The average bank president is -- is on the FOMC for as much as 10 years and governors' terms are 14 years. So even as the chairman changes, much of the FOMC remains continuous.
So as we talk about interest rates in 2014, the fact that there is quite wide-ranging agreement that interest rates will be low for a long time should give you more confidence that that's not dependent on a single individual.
In response to a question about whether the Chairman's forecast carries more weight than others.