Timeline of Money
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Chronology: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono17.html
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296CE
Roman Emp. Diocletian ordered the burning of
alchemical manuscripts for fear their discoveries would debase his
coinage. This may have set back the science of distillation.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
269BC The Roman system of coinage
was established.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
32BC A Roman coin dating from this
time bore the images of Cleopatra on one side and Marc Antony on the
reverse. It represented one three hundredth of a Roman soldier's salary
and was probably minted to pay the wages of those stationed in Egypt.
(AFP, 2/14/07)
1303 The avoirdupois pound was
invented by London merchants. As of 1959 the international pound,
abbreviation "lb" or sometimes # in the US, became the mass unit
defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilogram (or 453.59237 grams).
(www.spiritus-temporis.com/pound/measurement-systems.html)(http://tinyurl.com/8j8cp8)
1339 King Edward III of England
repudiated his debt to Florentine bankers.
(Econ, 1/24/09, p.79)
1542 Britain’s 1st bankruptcy laws
were crafted under Henry VIII.
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.53)
1652 A silver sixpence minted in
colonial New England was set for auction in 2003 with an estimated
value of $33-31k.
(SFC, 10/10/03, p.B2)
1659 Mar 22, The Warsaw parliament
decided to issue metal currency, shillings, for Lithuania and Poland.
(LHC, 3/22/03)
1690 Feb 3, The first paper money
in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts. The currency was
used to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.
(SFC, 4/30/97, p.B3)(AP, 2/3/97)
1694 Jul 27, The Bank of England
received a royal charter as a commercial institution.
(AP, 7/27/97)
1720 Jan-Aug, Speculators in
London bid up the price of the South Sea Co., which had been granted a
trading monopoly with South America and the Pacific. The South Sea
Bubble burst and London markets crashed. Speculation in government
chartered trading companies had led to artificially inflated equity
prices with high leverage. The average stock dropped 98.5%. It
reportedly took 100 years for markets to recover. In 1999 Edward
Chancellor published "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial
Speculation." In 2002 Malcolm Balen authored “The Secret History of the
South Sea Bubble.”
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.B2)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(WSJ,
6/1/99, p.A20)(Econ, 1/3/04, p.42)
1720 Mar 24, In Paris, banking
houses closed in the wake of financial crisis. The "Mississippi Bubble"
burst as panicked investors withdrew their money from John Law's bank
and Mississippi Company. [see South Sea Bubble, Jan, 1720]
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(HN, 3/24/99)(WSJ, 7/19/00, p.B4)
1764 Apr 19, The English
Parliament banned the American colonies from printing paper money.
(HN, 4/19/97)
1770 Prussia issued the first
covered bonds. They were paid back from the issuer’s cash flow and were
secured against a pool of assets.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.80)
1772 In Germany the silver and
most of the silver-gilt in the Green Vault of Dresden was melted down
and made into coin.
(Econ, 9/16/06, p.95)
1772-1823 David Ricardo, English Economist and
stockbroker. He postulated that landlords become rich at the expense of
society.
(V.D.-H.K.p.253)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1773 A group of English traders
broke away from Jonathan's coffee house and moved to a new building.
This became the forerunner of the London Stock Exchange (f.1801).
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.89)
1775 Jul 25, Maryland issued
currency depicting George III trampling the Magna Carta.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1778 Apr 1, Oliver Pollock, a New
Orleans businessman, created the "$" symbol.
(HN, 4/1/98)(OTD)
1782 Jan 7, The 1st US commercial
bank, Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1786 Jan 8, Nicholas Biddle, head
of the first United States bank, was born.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1786 Aug 8, The US Congress
adopted the silver dollar and decimal system of money.
(MC, 8/8/02)
1788 Jul 19, Prices plunged on the
Paris stock market.
(HN, 7/19/98)
1789 Sep 2, The Treasury
Department, headed by Alexander Hamilton, was created in New York City.
(AP, 9/2/97)(HN, 9/2/98)
1790 Apr 3, Revenue Marine Service
(US Coast Guard) was created.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1790 Jul 26, US passed the
Assumption bill making it responsible for state debts.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1791 Mar 3, The 1st Internal
Revenue Act taxed distilled spirits and carriages.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1791 James Madison opposed the
plans of Alexander Hamilton for a National Bank. [see 1780-1792,
Banning book on Madison] Hamilton started the 1st Bank of the US. It
was dissolved in 1811.
(WSJ, 12/20/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1792 Apr 2, Congress passed the
Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint. It
established the US dollar defined in fixed weights of gold and silver.
State chartered banks issued paper money convertible to gold or silver
coins to ease business transactions. U.S. authorized $10 Eagle, $5
half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar,
dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime.
(HFA, '96, p.28)(AP, 4/2/97)(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)(HN,
4/2/98)
1793 The 1st US half-cent and on
cent coins were minted. For almost 6 decades the obverse side carried
an image of Lady Liberty.
(SFC, 9/11/96, p.A4)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1794 Oct 15, US moneymakers minted
some 2,000 silver dollars of which 1,750 were deemed good enough to go
into circulation. The press initially used was designed for a smaller
coin and large scale production on a bigger press began a year later.
(SFC, 7/27/05, p.C8)
1795 Jul 9, James Swan paid off
the $2,024,899 US national debt.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1797 Feb 26, Bank of England
issued 1st £1-note.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1799 Sep 1, Bank of Manhattan
Company opened in NYC. It was the forerunner to Chase Manhattan.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1801 The London Stock Exchange
formed.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.70)
1811 In the US politics killed the
Bank of the United States established by Hamilton as a central bank and
a mechanism for government borrowing.
(WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A18)
1816 The Second Bank of the US was
chartered. The charter lapsed in 1836.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1817 Britain banned private coins.
They had been issued to address a major shortage of government coinage.
From 1787 to 1797 and again from 1811 to 1818, the greater part of
Great Britain's stock of coins came not from the Royal Mint in London
but from a score of private mints in Birmingham.
(WSJ, 1/5/09, p.A11)(http://mises.org/story/3168)
1825 The US experienced a
financial panic.
(Panic, p.6)
1830-1837 Some 347 new banks were chartered in the
US. The value of real estate rose 150%.
(Panic, p.13,18)
1831 Mar 19, The first recorded
bank robbery occurred at the City Bank, in New York. Some $245,000 is
stolen.
(HN, 3/19/98)
1832 Jul 10, President Andrew
Jackson vetoed legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United
States.
(AP, 7/10/97)
1832 Dec 5, Andrew Jackson was
re-elected US president. The US anti-Mason Party with William Wirt drew
8% of the vote against Henry Clay and the eventual winner, Andrew
Jackson. Clay led the Whig Party which coalesced against the power of
Andrew Jackson. The Whigs came from the conservative, nationalist wing
of the Jeffersonian Republicans. The election served as a referendum on
Jackson’s position against the 2nd Bank of the US.
(Hem, 8/96, p.86)(WSJ, 7/8/99, p.A16)(Panic, p.3)
1832 The Girard Bank of
Pennsylvania was founded.
(Panic, p.16)
1833 Aug 13, The Bank of the US
under Nicholas Biddle began to contract its loans.
(Panic, p.4)
1834 Jan 29, President Jackson
ordered the 1st use of US troops to suppress a labor dispute. Jackson
ordered the War Department to put down a "riotous assembly" near
Willamsport, Maryland, among Irish laborers constructing the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal.
(HNQ, 1/23/99)(MC, 1/29/02)
1834 Jan, New of the failure of
business houses and banks in Philadelphia, NY, and Washington heralded
the newspapers.
(Panic, p.4)
1834 Mar 28, The US Senate voted
to censure Pres. Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the
Bank of the United States. The Senate declared that Pres. Andrew
Jackson: "in the last executive proceedings in relation to the public
revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by
the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both."
(AP, 3/28/97)
1834 Sep 16, The Bank of the US
abandoned its policy of loan curtailment as Nicholas Biddle moved to
secure a new charter from the state of Pennsylvania.
(Panic, p.4)
1834 Pres. Jackson had special
1804 silver dollars minted for the sultan of Muscat (later Oman) and
the King of Siam (later Thailand) for trade treaties negotiated by
Edmund Roberts.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A6)
1834 New York’s Gov. Marcy warned
the state not to enlarge the banking superstructure without
strengthening its foundation.
(Panic, p.17)
1834-1861 The Citizens Bank of Louisiana, a
predecessor of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., secured loans with
mortgages and thousands of slaves. Bernard de Marigny, plantation owner
and one of the richest men of the epoch, put 62 slaves into the banks
books as collateral for borrowed money to support his gambling habit.
(WSJ, 5/10/05, p.A1)
1834-1910 Leon Walras, French economist. He founded
the marginalist school of economic thought, which held that prices
depend on the level of customer demand. He developed a mathematical
formulation of the mechanics of the price system with equations that
tied together theories of production, exchange, money and capital. His
general equilibrium theory is called "Walrasion general equilibrium"
and is still part of modern economic theory.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1835 Mar 3, Congress authorized a
US mint at New Orleans, LA.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1835 Oct 29, In NYC Tammany Hall
radicals lit candles with the new self-igniting friction matches, known
as loco-focos, and continued to nominate their own ticket and formulate
their program. The radical urban wing of the Democratic Party, which
emerged in New York in opposition to Andrew Jackson‘s banking policies,
thus became known by the nickname Loco-Focos. Also known as Equal
Rights men, the Loco-Focos fought those financial interests aided by
the regular Democratic Party in applying for bank and corporation
charters from the legislature. They also advocated hard money,
elections by direct popular vote, direct taxes, free trade, abolition
of monopolies and Jeffersonian strict construction. They got the name
Loco-Focos from an incident that occurred at a party primary meeting in
Tammany Hall. After party regulars pushed through a ticket over the
objections of the Equal Rights men, the radicals refused to vacate the
hall. To get them to leave, the party regulars turned out the gas
lights.
(HNQ, 12/17/99)
1835 Pres. Andrew Jackson
succeeded in retiring the national debt largely through the sale of
public land.
(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.C18)(Panic, p.6)
1836 Jul 11, Pres. Jackson,
alarmed by the growing influx of state bank notes being used to pay for
public land purchases, issued the Specie Circular shortly before
leaving office. This order commanded the Treasury to no longer accept
paper notes as payment for such sales. This led to the financial panic
of 1837.
(www.u-s-history.com/pages/h967.html)(Panic, p.6)
1837 Mar 4, When Pres. Jackson
left office there followed a financial crash and a bitter depression
and the government was again forced to borrow money. Pres. Jackson had
returned surplus government funds to the state governments as bonuses.
(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.C18)(WSJ, 6/26/00, p.A1)
1837-1841 Martin Van Buren became 8th President of
the US. His term was marred by depression and financial panic.
(A&IP, ESM, p.96b, photo)(HFA, ‘96, p.46)
1837-1863 More than 700 US banks could issue their
own notes during this period and as many as one-third of all bills were
fake.
(Econ, 2/23/08, p.104)
1838 New York passed the Free
Banking Act and the idea of state-chartered banks spread across the
country. Each bank issued its own bills in various shapes and sizes.
[see 1863, the National Bank Act]
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-8)
1838 Francis Drexel founded a bank
that later developed into Drexel Burnham Lambert Corp. His son, Joseph
Drexel, later partnered with J.P. Morgan and in 1876 went on to serve
as the director of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.W4)
1848 Mar 1, Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, US sculptor, designer (1907 $20 gold piece), was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1849 Mar 3, Gold Coinage Act
authorized the $20 Double Eagle gold coin.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1850 Pres. Fillmore recommended a
federal mint in SF to replace the 20 private mints.
(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)
1851 Mar 3, Congress authorized
the smallest US silver coin, a 3¢ piece. The trine obverse side
depicted a shield over a six-pointed star.
(SC, 3/3/02)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1851-1873 The US minted a 3-cent piece called a trine.
(SFC, 4/8/00, p.B4)
1853 Mar 3, US Assay Office in NYC
was authorized.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1854 Apr 3, The SF Mint opened at
608 Commercial St. It issued $4 million in gold coins this year. An
Indian princess appeared on gold dollars.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A12)(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)(WSJ,
12/12/03, p.W15)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1857 Aug 24, The New York branch
of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. failed, sparking the Panic of
1857. Financial pressures exerted negative market influences as noted
in a letter to the Economist in 1865. The sharp but short 1857-58
financial crash in the US was touched off by the failure of the New
York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. Over
speculation in real estate and railroad securities fed the panic.
(AP, 8/24/07)(WSJ, 9/28/95c, p.A-18)(HNQ, 6/6/00)
1859-1909 The Indian-head penny was minted over this
time.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1861 Aug 5, The US federal
government levied an income tax for the first time to finance the Civil
War. It was 3% of incomes over $800. The law expired in 1872.
(AP, 8/5/97)(HN, 8/5/98)(MC, 8/5/02)(WSJ, 6/4/03,
p.B1)
1861 Dec 30, Banks in the United
States suspended the practice of redeeming paper money for metal
currency, a practice that would continue until 1879.
(HN, 12/30/98)
1862 Jan 22, Confederate
government raised the premium for volunteers from $10 to $20.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1862 Feb 25, Congress formed the
US Bureau of Engraving & Printing. Greenbacks were introduced.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1862 Mar 10, First U.S. paper
money was issued in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500
& $1000.
(HN, 3/10/98)(MC, 3/10/02)
1862 Apr 21, Congress established
the U.S. Mint.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1862 Jul 1, Abraham Lincoln
instituted an income tax to pay for the Civil War. The US Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) was founded. Internal Revenue Law imposed federal
taxes on inheritance, tobacco & a progressive rate on incomes over
$600.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.D1)(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-1)(MC,
7/1/02)
1862 The Choctaw Indians issued a
75 cent note and the Cherokee Indians issued a $1 bill.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.8)
1862 The San Francisco Stock and
Bond Exchange was established by 19 founding members as a marketplace
for mining company stocks following the Comstock Lode strike.
(SSFC, 1/25/04, p.I3)
1863 Feb 26, Pres. Lincoln signed
a National Currency Act.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1863 Mar 3, Congress authorized a
US mint at Carson City, NV, and Gold certificates as currency.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1863 The National Bank Act was
passed to create a market in government bonds needed to finance the
Civil War. The act required that bank notes issued by commercial banks
be uniform in appearance and that 90% be backed by collateral
consisting of US Treasury securities. [see 1881-1890, currency decline]
Prior to the Civil War virtually the only currency was local and issued
by banks. The government issued "greenbacks" to finance the Civil War."
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-8)(WSJ, 6/27/96, p.B1)(Wired,
10/96, p.143)(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)
1864 Apr 22, Congress authorized
the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on for the 1st time on a 2 cent
coin.
(AP, 4/22/97)(MC, 4/22/02)
1865-1900 In 2007 Jack Beatty authored “Age of
Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900,” a look at the
failures of American government during the Gilded Age.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.E2)
1866 May 16, US Congress
authorized the minting of the first five-cent piece, also known as the
"Shield nickel." The Shield nickel was quite effective in replacing the
half dime, as its base metal composition discouraged hoarding and
caused it to circulate very widely.
(AP,
5/16/07)(http://en.allexperts.com/q/Coin-Collecting-2297/dime-small.htm)
1866 The US coined some silver
dollars without the inscription "In God We Trust." Only 2 coins were
known to exist in 2004. In Oct 1867, one was stolen along with some
7,000 other rare coins from the Florida collection of Willis H. du
Pont. It turned up in 2004.
(ST, 3/2/04, p.A8)
1868 The "Ohio Idea," promulgated
by Ohio congressman George Pendleton, called for payment of the
national debt with greenbacks. This position was adopted by the
Democrats at their 1868 convention. The "Ohio Idea" was in opposition
to the "hard money" proponents who called for payments in gold. The
1869 Public Credit Act officially repudiated the "Ohio Idea" with its
provision for the payment of government obligations in gold.
(HNQ, 5/14/99)
1868 Britain’s first fully
diversified managed fund (mutual fund), appeared.
(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.R6)
1869 Sep 13, Jay Gould and James
Fisk attempted to control the US gold market.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1870 Feb 12, An official
proclamation set April 15 as last day of grace for US silver coins to
circulate in Canada.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1873 Feb 12, The US Congress
abolished bimetallism and authorized $1 & $3 gold coins.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1873 Mar 3, US Congress and
government raised their own salary, retroactively.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1873 Sep 20, A financial panic hit
the NY Stock Exchange when the high-flying bond dealer, Jay Cooke,
granted too many loans to the railroads. Panic spread to Europe as
London and Paris markets crashed and the New York Stock Exchange closed
for the first time for 10 days. The economy went into a 6 year
depression. Philadelphia banker and newspaperman Anthony Drexel teamed
up with J.P. Morgan to depose a rival bank run by Jay Cooke. They
published allegations to undermine confidence and cause a run that led
to a panic.
(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.C1)(WSJ,
10/7/98, p.A22)(SSFC, 7/14/02, p.G2)
1873-1879 A US economic recession took place over
this period.
(WSJ, 11/29/08, p.B2)
1874 The San Francisco Federal
Mint building opened at 5th and Mission. It was designed by Alfred
Mullett, the Treasury’s supervising architect.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A13)(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)
1875 Mar 3, Congress authorized a
20¢ coin. It lasted only 3 years.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1876 Oct, George T. Morgan joined
the US Mint and soon created a sketch for a $100 gold coin, which was
never made.
(WSJ, 11/29/08, p.B2)
1877 Congress passed an Act
prohibiting the counterfeiting of any coin, gold or silver bar.
(http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/history.shtml)
1878 Feb 16, The silver dollar
became US legal tender.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1879 James Ritty
(1836-1918) and his brother invented the 1st cash register. It was to
combat stealing by bartenders in his Dayton, Ohio, saloon. The first
model looked like a clock, but instead of the hands indicating hours
and minutes, they indicated dollars and cents. Behind the dial two
adding discs accumulated the total of the amounts recorded. Known as
"the incorruptible cashier," with no cash drawer, it would show anyone
within sight how much had been recorded. They received a patent Jan 30,
1883.
(www.inventors.about.com)(www.uspto.gov/go/kids/kidjan.htm)
1883 Jan 30, James Ritty and John
Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.
(AP, 1/30/07)
1884 Jul 3, The 1st Dow Jones
average included 11 stocks: Chicago & North Western, Union Pacific
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Missouri Pacific, Lake Shore,
Louisville & Nashville, New York Central, Pacific Mail, St. Paul,
Western Union, and Northern Pacific preferred.
(SFC, 2/2/06,
p.A13)(www.cftech.com/BrainBank/FINANCE/DowJonesAvgsHist.html)
1884 In Dayton, Ohio, John H.
Patterson founded the National Cash Register Company (NCR), maker of
the first mechanical cash registers. In 1974 the company changed its
name to NCR Corp. From 1991 to 1996 it was part of AT&T.
(www.ncr.com/history/history.htm)(SFC, 5/21/08, p.G7)
1889 Andrew Carnegie,
Scottish-born American industrialist, authored his essay “Gospel of
Wealth,” a primer on why some people had so much money and how to give
it away.
(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.M3)
1891 Aug 5, The 1st travelers
checks were issued by American Express.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1893 Mar 3, Columbian Isabella
silver quarter was authorized.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1893 A US commemorative
half-dollar featured Christopher Columbus.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1894 Aug 24, Congress passed the
first graduated income tax law, which was declared unconstitutional the
next year. It imposed a 2% tax on incomes over $4000. The Supreme Court
ruled it unconstitutional. [see Aug 27]
(WSJ, 3/11/98, p.A20)(HN, 8/24/98)
1894 Aug 27, Congress passed the
Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, providing for a graduated income tax that was
down by the Supreme Court May 20, 1895. Pres. Grover Cleveland enacted
the tax to cope with the deficit.
(AP, 8/27/99)(WSJ, 9/25/02, p.D8)
1894 The SF Mint struck 24 Liberty
dimes (1894-S). Philadelphia minted 1.3 million and New Orleans
produced 720,000. The SF dimes were produced by the mint director as a
special gift for visiting big shots. In 1980 a SF minted 1894-S dime
sold for $160,000. In 2007 an 1894-S dime sold for $1.9 million.
(SFC, 9/23/05, p.F3)(SFC, 7/27/07, p.A11)
1895 May 20, The US income tax was
declared unconstitutional.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.8)
c1895 Capital flows between Europe
and America reversed with a net credit to America. In 2003 Thomas
Kessner authored "Capital City," the story of New York’s rise to a
world financial center.
(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.D8)
1898 Jul 1, The US Congress passed
legislation regarding bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Act of 1898, also
known as the "Nelson Act," was the first Act of Congress involving
bankruptcy that gave companies an option of being protected from
creditors. Previous attempts at federal bankruptcy laws had lasted at
most a few years.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_Act_of_1898)
1899 Mar 3, Congress authorized
the Lafayette silver dollar.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1900 Mar 14, Congress ratified the
Gold Standard Act for U.S. currency.
(AP, 3/14/97)(HN, 3/14/98)
1900 Louis Bachelier (1870-1946),
financial economist, wrote a dissertation in Paris, "Theorie de
la Spéculation." This and his subsequent work (esp. 1906, 1913)
anticipated much of what was to become standard fare in financial
theory: efficient market hypothesis, random walk of financial market
prices, Brownian motion and martingales. He was a student of French
mathematician Henri Poincare.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.D8)
1901 Jan 7, New York stock
exchange trading exceeded two million shares for the first time in
history.
(HN, 1/7/99)
1905 Edith Wharton authored her
2nd novel "The House of Mirth," in which Lily Bart attempts to monetize
her beauty and gambles on Wall Street.
(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.8)(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.W8)
1906 Charles F. Kettering designed
the first cash register powered by an electric motor.
(www.ncr.com/history/history.htm)
1907 Feb 26, Members of US
Congress raised their own salaries to $7500.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1907 Dec, The US stock market,
spurred by a "bear raid," took a nose-dive and set off a widespread
panic. Many banks failed.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)
1907 Dec, There was stock market
panic this year when the Knickerbocker Trust Co. failed. J.P. Morgan
took charge and forbade the NY stock market to close and raised $25
million in 15 minutes to add liquidity. He summoned the most important
bankers to devise a plan to abort the panic and no depression was
induced. Morgan also called on clergymen to preach sermons of
confidence. The crises led the government to create the Federal Reserve
System (1913). Morgan got bankers to agree to settle accounts among
themselves with clearinghouse certificates rather than cash and thus
increased the money supply. The story was later recounted by John
Steele Gordon in his 1999 book "The Great Game."
(SFC,10/27/97, p.B2)(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A22)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R42)(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.A32)
1907 Dec, Banker J.P. Morgan saved
the US financial system by putting his own money on the line in the
Panic of 1907. In the Panic of 1907 J.P. Morgan, who ran US Steel,
bought the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. and trustbuster
Theodore Roosevelt agreed not to object to the buyout. Elbert H. Gary
was the chairman of US Steel.
(WSJ,2/13/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 5/28/96, R45)(WSJ,
7/16/01, p.A10)
1907 The US $10 gold coin featured
the head of Victory wearing an Indian headdress designed by Augustus
Saint-Gaudens.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1909 Apr 6, 1st credit union
formed in US.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1909 Aug 2, The 1st Lincoln head
pennies were minted. It was 95% copper and was the first US coin to
depict the likeness of a president.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, Par p.21)(SFC, 12/29/96, Z1 p.2)(MC,
8/2/02)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1909 Aug 7, US issued the 1st
Lincoln penny. [see Aug 2]
(MC, 8/7/02)
1909 Congress proposed the 16th
Amendment to the Constitution, which proposed an income tax. It was
ratified in 1916.
(WSJ, 6/4/03, p.B1)
1910 Financiers in support of
federal supervision of the banking system in the US held a clandestine
meeting at the exclusive Jekyll Island Club off the coast of Georgia
that eventually led to the formation of the Federal Reserve System.
(WSJ, 5/8/95, p.A-14)
1911 Jul 1, A proclamation removed
"Dei Gratia" from Canada's coins.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1911 Irving Fisher, American
Economist, authored “The Purchasing Power of Money.”
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.76)
1912 The 1912-1913 "Money Trust"
investigations were spearheaded by Wall Street lawyer-turned-reformer
Samuel Untermeyer.
(WSJ, 8/1/03, p.W10)
1913 Feb 3, The 16th Amendment to
the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified. The
new income tax laws included an exemption on life insurance to help
widows and orphans. The 1st $3,000 was exempted. The top rate on
incomes over $500,000 was 6%.
(AP, 2/3/00)(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/4/03, p.B1)
1913 Mar 1, The US Federal income
tax took effect (16th amendment).
(SC, 3/1/02)
1913 Dec 23, The Federal Reserve
Act was signed by Pres. Woodrow Wilson. The Owen-Glass Act established
the decentralized, government-controlled banking system in the U.S.
known as the Federal Reserve. It repealed the gold standard and
replaced it with a system that ensured that the US dollar would be a
better store of value than gold. The act guarded against inflation but
allowed deflation. It was the first thorough reorganization of the
national banking system since the Civil War. The goal was to strive for
maximum employment and price stability
(Wired, 10/96, p.142)(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A14)(HNQ,
10/16/99)(SSFC, 11/28/04, p.D1)
1913 The US buffalo nickel, also
known as the Indian head nickel, went into circulation. It continued to
1938.
(SFC, 4/25/03, B3)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1913 Engraver George T. Morgan is
believed to have produced 5 Liberty Head V nickels at the Philadelphia
Mint. In 2004 one sold for $3 million.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.C1)
1914 Apr 2, Federal Reserve Board
announced plans to divide country into 12 districts. [see Nov 16, 1914]
(HN, 4/2/98)
1916-1931 The Indian rupee was the legal tender of
Iraq.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
1917 Mar 1, 1st federal land bank
was chartered.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1917 Mar 3, Congress passed the
1st excess profits tax on corporations.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1920 Charles Ponzi (37), an
immigrant from Italy, began selling notes in Boston with 50% interest
payments payable in 45 days. In 1921 he pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
He was released from prison in 1924 and went to Florida for the land
boom offering investors profits of 200%. He again spent time in jail
and was eventually deported and died broke. In 2005 Michael Zuckoff
authored “Ponzi’s Scheme.”
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.W6)
1922 George S. Clason authored
“The Richest Man in Babylon,” financial advice provided as a set of
parables set in Babylon.
(SFC, 5/21/04, p.F1)
1923 Jun 9, Brinks unveiled its
1st armored security vans.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1923 Edwin Lefevre authored
"Reminiscences of a Stock Operator." It was fictional account based on
interviews with real-life trader Jesse Livermore.
(USAT, 7/16/03, p.2B)
1924 Three Boston securities
executives pooled their money together to create Massachusetts
Investors Trust, the first modern US mutual fund. A Dutch merchant had
cobbled together the earliest mutual-style fund, Eendragt Maakt Magt
(Unity creates Strength) in 1774.
(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.83)(http://mutualfunds.about.com/cs/history/a/fund_history.htm)(WSJ,
1/3/07, p.R6)
1925 Winston Churchill returned
the British pound to a gold standard.
(Econ, 12/1/07, p.31)
1926 Sir Montagu Norman, governor
of the Bank of England, got Britain back on the gold standard with help
by a loan organized by Benjamin Strong, head of the US Federal Reserve
of New York.
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.73)
1927 May 13, "Black Friday" on
Berlin Stock Exchange.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1929 Oct 24, Black Thursday, the
first day of the stock market crash, began the Great Depression. Dow
Jones was down 12.8%. Stock values collapsed and 13 million shares
changed hands as small investors frantically tried to sell off their
holdings. Thousands of confused investors and brokers were ruined and
banks, which had also invested heavily in the market, failed when they
could not produce enough cash on demand for angry depositors. The 3
cent Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported the crash along with a story on the
trial of a former banking superintendent for taking a $10,000 bribe for
not inspecting some insolvent banks.
(HN, 10/24/98)(HNPD, 10/29/98)(SFEC, 7/11/99,
p.D9)(AH, 10/04, p.15)
1929 Oct 25, Former Interior
Secretary Albert B. Fall was convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe in
connection with the Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve in California and
Teapot Dome, Wyoming. Fall served under Pres. Warren Harding
(AP, 10/25/97)(SFEC, 3/8/98, BR p.7)(SFEC, 7/11/99,
p.D9)
1929 Oct 28, The DJIA dropped
12.8%. Dow Jones plummeted 38.33 pts (13%) to 260.64. Just before the
Great Crash the Ladies Home Journal proclaimed: "Everyone Ought to Be
Rich."
(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A1)(SFC,10/17/97, p.B2)
1929 Oct 29, The DJIA dropped
11.7%. "Black Tuesday" was the worst day of the market crash as
panicked survivors dumped 16 million shares on the market. Clerical
workers stayed up all night to find that $30 billion in paper value had
been wiped out in one day. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and
thousands of investors were wiped out as America's Great Depression
began. On Wall street prices plunged $14 million. By mid- November $30
billion of the $80 billion worth of stocks listed in September were
been wiped out. Stocks continued to slide until 1932, but the fear
caused by the crash made Americans unwilling to buy or invest and the
economy slowly worsened into the Great Depression. In 1994 daily trades
average 200-300 million shares. In 2001 Maury Klein authored “Rainbow’s
End: The Crash of 1929.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.253,292)(HFA, '96, p.40)(TMC, 1994,
p.1929)(SFC,10/17/97, p.B2) (HNPD, 10/29/98)(HN, 10/29/98)(WSJ,
10/26/01, p.A20)
1929 In the wake of the stock
market crash Andrew Mellon, treasury secretary under Pres. Hoover,
preached a policy of liquidation to “purge the rottenness out of the
system.” This helped to plunge the economy into the Great Depression.
(Econ, 9/27/08, p.46)
1930 Mar 11, Silvio Gesell
(b.1862), German merchant and theoretical economist, died. He was an
ethical vegetarian, considered himself a world citizen and believed
Earth should belong to all people, regardless of race, gender, class,
wealth, religion. Based on his theories the Bavarian coalmining village
of Schwanenkirchen created an alternative currency in 1931 called the
wara, which obligated its holder to pay a tax. This encouraged all
users of the currency to get rid of it as soon as possible.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Gesell)(Econ,
1/24/09, p.81)
1931 Sep 21, Britain went off the
gold standard. The pound devalued 20%.
(AP, 9/21/97)(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.W8)
1931 The Capital Research &
Management mutual fund was founded in Los Angeles. By 2008 it was the
largest US manager of stock and bond mutual funds with over $1.1
trillion under management.
(WSJ, 1/16/08, p.A10)
1932 Feb 27, The Glass-Steagall
Act was passed, giving the Federal Reserve the right to expand credit
in order to increase money circulation. It separated regular banks from
investment banks. Senator Carter Glass (d.1946 at 88) of Virginia and
Rep. Henry Steagall (d.1943 at 70) of Alabama sponsored it. The act had
two measures. The 1932 act was a bookkeeping provision that allowed the
Treasury to balance its account. [see 1933]
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A4)(WSJ, 8/8/97, p.A11)(HN,
2/27/98)(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1,6)
1932 Jul 31, The George Washington
quarter went into circulation as a 200 year commemorative of G.
Washington’s birth. It has been in use ever since.
(WSJ, 7/12/96, p.B5B)(MC, 7/31/02)
1933 Mar 1, Bank holidays were
declared in 6 states to prevent run on banks.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1933 Mar 13, Banks began to
re-open after a holiday declared by President Roosevelt.
(AP, 3/13/97)
1933 Apr 19, The United States
went off the gold standard by presidential proclamation. FDR tied this
with orders that 445,000 newly minted gold $20 "Double Eagle" coins be
destroyed. Ten coins escaped and one was scheduled for auction in 2002.
The coin fetched $7.59 million. [see Jun 5]
(TMC, 1994, p.1933)(PCh, 1992, p.819)(AP,
4/19/97)(SSFC, 3/29/02, Par p.6)(SFC, 7/31/02, p.A2)
1933 Jun 16, US Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) became effective. The initial deposit
insurance level was set at $2,500.
(www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/1000-200.html)(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A10)
1933 Jul 12, Congress passed the
1st minimum wage law (33 cents per hour).
(MC, 7/12/02)
1933 The US Glass-Steagall Act,
actually the Bank Act of 1933, banned banks from underwriting stocks.
It separated regular banks from investment banks. It was the 2nd act of
the same name. Mr. Glass agreed to attach Mr. Steagall’s pet amendment,
which authorized bank deposit insurance for the first time. [see 1932]
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A4)(WSJ, 8/8/97, p.A11)(WSJ,
4/10/98, p.A1,6)
1934 Jun 26, The Federal Credit
Union Act was passed.
(HFA, ‘96, p.32)
1934 Jun 27, The US Federal
Savings & Loan Association created. [see Jun 26]
(SC, 6/27/02)
1936 Sep 25-1936 Oct 13, The
Tripartite Agreement between the US, the UK, and France established
that the subscribing nations agree to buy and sell gold freely with
each other in exchange for their own currency.
(www.reserveasset.gold.org/monetary_history/key_documents/after/)
1936 John Maynard Keynes published
"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money." It taught that
the classic model of Adam Smith was a special case and only applied in
times of full employment. At other times he asserted that the economy
needed a large and activist government to steer it on the road of full
employment. He advised governments to increase money supply to overcome
Depression. His theories played a part in Roosevelt's New Deal which
helped revive the US economy.
(WSJ, 10/9/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R14)
1936 John Dos Passos authored the
“The Big Money,” the third volume of his “U.S.A.” trilogy.
(WSJ, 3/20/09, p.W10)
1937 Mar 1, US Steel raises
workers' wages to $5 a day.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1938 The US government established
the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae - FNMA) to expand
the flow of money to mortgage lenders.
(WSJ, 9/27/04, p.A1)
1938 The Jefferson and Monticello
images replaced those on the buffalo nickel.
(SFC, 4/25/03, B3)
1938 John Burr Williams, American
securities analyst, argued that the price of financial assets reflects
a measurable intrinsic value.
(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.J4)
1939 Sir John Templeton purchased
shares in 104 almost worthless NY stockbrokers in anticipation of a
strong recovery due to impending war. Within 3 years he turned a profit
on 100 of the 104 purchases.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.110)
1940 The US Investment Company Act
(IAA) included a requirement for the disclosure of debt. The act also
defined mutual fund operations.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.D1)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.63)
1940s US Sec. Henry Morgenthau
held that every country should have its own central bank and unique
currency. He deemed it a clever way to tap into nationalist sentiments.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
1943 Jun 9, "Pay-as-you-go"
(withholding) US income tax deductions were authorized. [see Jul 1,
1943]
(MC, 6/9/02)
1943 Jul 1, In the US
"pay-as-you-go" income tax withholding began.
(AP, 7/1/97)
1944 Jul 1, Delegates from 44
countries began meeting at Bretton Woods, N.H., where they agreed to
establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The US
hosted an international conference at Bretton Woods, N.H., to deal with
international monetary and financial problems. The talks resulted in
the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank in 1945. The agreement was a gold exchange standard and only the
US was required to convert its currency into gold at a fixed rate, and
only foreign central banks were allowed the privilege of redemption. In
1983 Michael Moffitt authored “The World’s Money: Int’l. Banking from
Bretton Woods to the Brink of Insolvency.” In 1997 Catherine Caufield
wrote "Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the Poverty of Nations."
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A4)(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A22)(AP,
7/1/04)(WM, 1983, p.13)
1945 Dec 27, The International
Monetary Fund and the Int’l. Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank) were created. 28 nations signed an agreement creating the
World Bank. The IMF was created to promote healthy international trade
and began transactions in 1947. The World Bank was designed by
Englishman John Maynard Keynes and American Harry Dexter White.
(AP, 12/27/97)(HN, 12/27/98)(HNQ, 12/27/00)(Econ,
7/24/04, p.63)
1945 British currency forged in
Germany, measured by face value, accounted for 12% of all pound
sterling bills. Early this year SS leaders switched their attention to
forging US dollars. Forging operations, using Jewish and other war
prisoners, had begun at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp under SS
officer Bernhard Kruger a few years earlier. Nearly 133 million pounds
was forged during Operation Bernhard.
(WSJ, 1/22/07, p.A1,13)
1946 Jan 30, The 1st issue of
Franklin Roosevelt dime.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1946 Apr 21, John M. Keynes (62),
English economist, died. He had recently negotiated a loan from
the US to keep Britain afloat. One condition of the $5 billion loan was
that Britain make sterling fully convertible into dollars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes)(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1946 Jul, Hungary’s hyperinflation
peaked at 42 quadrillion per cent a month.
(http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/inflation_history_Zimbabwe_USA_101620073)(Econ,
7/19/08, p.57)
1947 Jul 15, Convertibility of
British sterling into US dollars, negotiated as part of a $5 billion US
loan to Britain in 1946, came into effect. It caused an immediate run
on the pound and was abandoned on August 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Mar 1, International Monetary
Fund began operations.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1947 The General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was first signed to supplement the IMF. The
agreement was designed to provide an international forum that
encouraged free trade between member states by regulating and reducing
tariffs on traded goods and by providing a common mechanism for
resolving trade disputes.
(WM, 1983,
p.20)(www.ciesin.org/TG/PI/TRADE/gatt.html)
1947 The family-owned Olayan Group
was founded in Saudi Arabia and grew to became one of the country’s
largest private conglomerates.
(WSJ, 1/16/08, p.A10)
1948 The US half-dollar began to
feature an image of Ben Franklin, which replaced the Walking Liberty.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1950 Mar 1, USSR issued golden
rubles.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1950 Feb, Frank McNamara paid for
a meal at Major’s Cabin Grill in NYC with his newly invented Diners
Club card. The cardboard card was the first charge card that could be
used at multiple establishments.
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.A1)(Econ, 12/10/05, p.88)
1950 May 13, Diner's Club
issued its 1st credit cards.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1952 Mar 1, In SF Municipal
Railway workers received a wage increase of 9.4 cents effective July 1.
This raised their hourly rate to $1.73.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.G8)
1952 Apr 15, Franklin National
Bank issued the 1st bank credit card.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1953 Aug 21, The SF Chamber of
Commerce reported that the city's 1951 per capita gross income was
$1,512, 40.8% above the state average.
(SFC, 8/15/03, p.E9)
1953 The Kuwait Investment
Authority (KIA) was founded. In 2008 its assets were estimated at $200
billion.
(WSJ, 1/16/08, p.A10)
1954 Mar 22, The London gold
market reopened for the first time since 1939.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1954 The US Treasury began keeping
daily records on Treasury Bills.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.86)
1955 Jan 6, The SF Mint announced
that it would cease coin production before June 30, but continue as the
nation’s largest refiner of gold and silver and as an assay office and
repository.
(SFC, 1/7/05, p.F6)
1955 Mar 31, Chase National (3rd
largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank)
merged to form Chase Manhattan.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1955 Apr 22, Congress ordered all
U.S. coins to bear motto "In God We Trust".
(HN, 4/22/98)
1955 Aug 12, Pres Eisenhower
raised the minimum wage from $0.75 to $1 an hour.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1955 Sep 26, The New York Stock
Exchange suffered $44 million loss, the heaviest one-day loss since
1929 following word that Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower had suffered a
heart attack.
(AP, 9/26/03)
1957 Oct 1, The motto "In God We
Trust" began appearing on US paper currency.
(AP, 10/1/07)
1957 Alex Guinness, William Holden
and Jack Hawkins starred in the film "Bridge on the River Kwai." Carl
Foreman was the screenwriter. It premiered at the RKO Palace Theater in
New York City on Dec 18 and later won multiple Oscars. It was rated #13
by the Amer. Film Inst. in 1998. Holden was the 1st Hollywood actor to
earn a $ 1 million for a film.
(WSJ, 2/27/96, p.A19)(SFEC, 9/8/96, DB p.8)(AP,
12/18/97)(USAT, 6/17/98, p.9D)(WSJ, 4/6/00, p.A20)
1958 Oct 1, American Express
launched its first credit card.
(www.bostonapartments.com/loans/american_express_credit_card.html)
1962 Milton Friedman and his wife
Rose published "Capitalism and Freedom," a good summary of Friedman’s
economic thinking.
(WSJ, 5/27/98, p.A20)(Econ, 3/6/04, p.74)
1963 Dec 30, Congress authorized
the Kennedy half dollar.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1963 Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
and Anna Jacobson Schwartz authored “A Monetary History of the United
States, 1867-1960.” They argued that the US depression of the 1930s was
the result of an inept Federal Reserve.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A15)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.80)
1963 Ezra Solomon (d.2002 at 82),
Stanford economics professor, authored "The Theory of Financial
Management."
(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A22)
1963 The film "Cleopatra" starred
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Roddy McDowall and ran for 243
minutes. Taylor was the 1st Hollywood actress to earn a $ 1 million for
a film.
(SFEC, 1/26/97 Par, p.16)(SFEC, 10/4/98,
p.B10)(SSFC, 4/6/03, Par p.2)
1964 Mar 24, Kennedy half-dollar
was issued.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1967 May 18, Silver hit a record
$1.60 an ounce in London.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1967 Jun 27, The first
recognizably automated teller machine (ATM) was placed outside the
Barclays PLC branch in Enfield, a north London suburb.
(AP, 6/27/07)
1967 The US introduced the concept
of the SDR (special drawing right) as an alternative to the dollar and
gold as an int'l. reserve currency to finance global trade.
(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.A29)
1968 Mar 15, The U.S. mint halted
the practice of buying and selling gold.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1968 Mar 18, Pres. Johnson signed
Public Law 90-269 removing gold backing from US paper money.
(www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/txt/dbal33.txt)
1968 The Federal National Mortgage
Association (Fannie Mae - FNMA), established by the government in 1938,
became a private, shareholder-owned company.
(WSJ, 9/27/04, p.A1)
1969 The IRS eliminated author
donations of their papers as a tax break.
(WSJ, 4/18/03, p.W13)
1969 The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp. (FDIC), established in 1933, raised its limit to $20,000 from the
initial $2,500.
(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A10)
1969 The Special Drawing Right
(SDR) was created by the IMF to support the Bretton Woods fixed
exchange rate system. It was created to supplement the existing
official reserves of member countries. SDRs are allocated to member
countries in proportion to their IMF quotas. The SDR also serves as the
unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations.
Its value is based on a basket of key international currencies.
(www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/sdr.htm)
1970 Jun 1, The Canadian dollar
was allowed to float.
(http://tinyurl.com/5n8ufg)
1970 Dec 31, Congress authorized
the Eisenhower dollar coin.
(http://eisenhowerdollarguide.com/)
1970 The US government created
Freddie Mac as a 2nd buyer of home loans.
(WSJ, 9/27/04, p.A1)
1970 Bruce Bent created The
Reserve Fund, the first money fund. In 2008 the Reserve Primary Fund,
in the wake of the Lehman Brothers failure, became the 2nd money fund
to fall below $1. The first fund to fall below $1 was Community
Bancshares in 1994. It was liquidated with a loss of 4 cents on the
dollar.
(Econ, 6/14/08,
p.87)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_R._Bent)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.C1)
1970s Stagflation, a period of
rising inflation, high oil prices and weak labor markets, marked the
global economy.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.13)
1971 Jan 25, The Philadelphia mint
made its 1st trial strike of the Eisenhower dollar.
(www.usmint.gov/search/index.cfm?flash=yes&criteria=&hf=1&group=166)
1971 Feb 15, Britain abandoned the
unit of the penny on Decimal Day, February 15, 1971, replacing the
shilling with five new pence, so that one pound sterling became divided
into 100 new pence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd)
1971 Aug 15, Pres. Nixon suspended
conversion of dollars to gold and imposed a 90-day price, wage and
rents freeze and 10% import charge. He also cut various taxes and
expenditures. This marked the end of the gold standard and fixed
exchange rates. The Bretton Woods agreement, that defined the post
World War II economic environment, collapsed under the weight of US
deficit spending. In the wake of this exchange rates were allowed to
float under the watchful eye of central bankers.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-44)(WSJ,
8/15/96, p.A12)(AP, 8/15/97)(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1971 Nov 1, The Eisenhower dollar
was put into circulation.
(www.coinresource.com/guide/photograde/pg_$1ike.htm)
1971 Dec 18, Pres. Nixon devalued
the dollar, and even though the devaluation was effective immediately,
only Congress could officially change the gold value of the dollar. The
US dollar went off the gold standard and was devalued by 7.9%. The 10%
import surcharge was lifted.
(WUD, 1994, p.
1688)(www.richmondfed.org/faqs/index.cfm?faq=Gold%20and%20Silver)
1972 The International Monetary
market opened. The Chicago futures market first began trading financial
derivatives. Leo Melamed, a former lawyer, launched currency futures on
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.79)(Econ,
1/24/09, SR p.10)
1972 Henry B.R. Brown (1926-2008)
and Bruce Bent opened their Reserve Fund, the first money market mutual
fund.
(WSJ, 8/16/08, p.A7)
1973 Oct 18, Congress authorized a
bicentennial quarter, half-dollar and dollar coin.
(http://tinyurl.com/6q449j)
1973 The market for traded
uncertainty came into being with the publication of a paper by Myron
Scholes and Fischer Black (the Black-Scholes model).
(Econ, 7/24/04, p.67)
1974 Jan 31, Gold hit a record
high of $195.5 an ounce.
(www.finfacts.ie/Private/curency/goldmarketprice.htm)
1974 May 1, The US Federal Hourly
Minimum Wage was set at $2.00 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/ESA/minwage/chart.htm)
1974 Oct 28, A US law banned
discrimination of sex or marital status in credit application.
(www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/6500-1200.html)
1974 Dec 31, Private US citizens
were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40
years.
(AP, 12/31/97)
1975 Jan 1, The Federal Hourly
Minimum Wage rose to $2.10 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/coverage.htm)
1975 John Kenneth Galbraith
authored “Money,” a history of currency in America.
(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.W8)
1975 The US began minting a
special 1976 Bicentennial quarter with a colonial drummer on the
reverse side of the G. Washington face.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)
1976 Apr 13, The US Federal
Reserve began issuing $2 bicentennial notes. The last $2 series was
discontinued in 1966 after low production and the concomitant
unpopularity of the bill resulted in insufficient use.
(http://wcdc42.com/2dollar/economic_reviews.html)(HN, 4/13/98)
1976 A typical American CEO earned
36 times as much as the average worker. By 2008 average CEO pay
increased to 369 times that of the average worker.
(SFC, 4/29/08, p.E2)
1977 The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) drafted rules regarding currency exchange rates following
the collapse of the int’l. gold standard and the fixed-exchange-rate
system (1971).
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A4)
1978 Jul 28, Price of gold topped
the $200 per oz level for 1st time. Spot gold closed at $201.30.
(www.the-privateer.com/gold/week189.html)
1979 Aug 6, Paul Volcker (b.1927),
appointed by Pres. Carter, took over as the new chair of the US Federal
Reserve Board.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Volcker)
1978 Nov 1, The Carter
administration announced a multipart support package for the US dollar.
The Treasury planned to use gold sales, foreign borrowing and a draw on
reserves with the IMF to defend the dollar. The Federal Reserve raised
the discount rate a full point.
(WSJ, 1/18/05, p.A1)
1978 Nov 6, The US Bankruptcy
Reform Act revised bankruptcy regulations to allow companies to
reorganize under Chapter 11 of the law, rather than liquidate under
Chapter 7. It replaced the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, sometimes called the
nelson act, and became effective as of Oct 1, 1979.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_Reform_Act_of_1978)
1978 Dec 13, The Philadelphia Mint
began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which went into circulation
the following July. This was the 1st US coin to honor a woman.
(AP, 12/13/97)(http://tinyurl.com/377b2l)
1978 Charles P. Kindleberger
(d.2003), economist, authored "Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History
of Financial Crises.
(WSJ, 7/25/02, p.A1)(NW, 7/28/03, p.45)
1978 The US Supreme Court ruled in
Marquette vs. First Omaha Service Corp. that national banks can
charge customers throughout the country any interest rate allowed by
the institution’s home state. This led financial institutions to move
credit offices to states with no or very high interest caps.
(SFC, 5/4/05, p.C1)
1978 US states began to allow
interstate banking.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1978 US net foreign assets in 1978
equaled 9% of GDP. By 2005 this dropped to net liabilities of 25% GDP.
(WSJ, 1/18/05, p.A13)
1979 Mar 13, European Monetary
System (EMS) entered into force.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1979 Jul 1, The Susan B. Anthony
dollar was issued. It was the 1st US coin to honor a woman. The 1st
coin was struck Feb 2 in San Francisco. The SF mint produced 100
million of the coins. Another 400 million were made in Philadelphia and
Denver. It was not widely accepted and production stopped in 1981.
(WSJ, 7/12/96, p.B5B)(MC, 7/1/02)(SFC, 1/30/04,
p.E6)(SFC, 7/2/04, p.F9)
1979 Oct 6, Paul Volcker, new
chairman of the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates sharply to clamp
down on inflation knowing that it would send interest rates soaring.
Volcker held his position until Aug, 1987
(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.C23)(Econ, 6/19/04, p.11)(WSJ,
1/18/05, p.A13)
1979 Gold, fine art, and antiques
rose in value under the inflationary economy. America’s core inflation,
which excludes oil and food, rose at a 7% rate.
(TMC, 1994, p.1979)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.13)
1980 Jan 21, Gold peaked in NY at
$875 a troy ounce. By mid-March gold prices fell to below $500 per
ounce.
(SFC, 3/18/05,
p.F2)(www.321gold.com/editorials/wong/wong010104.html)
1980 Mar 31, President Carter
deregulated the banking industry.
(HN, 3/31/98)
1980 Jun 1, Ted Turner's Cable
News Network (CNN), providing round-the-clock TV newscasts, made its
debut as television's first all-news service, vowing to stay on the air
until the world ends. James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader,
identified the station: "This is CNN." In 2001 Reese Schonfeld, the man
who cofounded CNN, authored "Me and Ted Against the World.” "Moneyline"
TV Financial News debut on CNN.
(AP, 6/1/97)(WSJ, 2/23/00,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN)
1980 The US Monetary Control Act
deregulated interest rates.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1980 The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp. (FDIC), established in 1933, raised its limit to $100,000. The
previous limit, set in 1969, was $20,000.
(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A10)
1980 A group of banks led by J.P.
Morgan made massive bailout loans of $1 billion to the Hunt brothers
who had allegedly tried to corner the silver market.
(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A16)
1980-1981 There was a world-wide recession.
(Econ, 2/18/06, p.82)
1981 US over-the-counter
derivatives were born with the 1st currency “swap.”
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1981 Singapore implemented a
managed float for its currency. It pegged its dollar to a basket of
currencies that mirrored its trading patterns. The Monetary Authority
of Singapore does not announce the contents of the basket. It just
tweaks the mix as needed.
(WSJ, 5/23/05, p.C16)
1981 The Government of Singapore
Investment corp. was founded to run the nation’s foreign-exchange
reserves. By 2008 it had well over $100 billion in assets.
(WSJ, 1/16/08, p.A10)
1982 Mar 1, New York Times raised
its price from 25¢ to 30¢.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1982 The US government stopped
selling fixed-rate savings bonds just as interest rates were embarked
on a long, steep decline.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.C6)
1984 In Chicago J.S.G. Boggs
(b.1955) exchanged the sketch of a dollar bill for a cup of coffee and
received 10 cents change. This began his career drawing money for a
living. In 1999 Lawrence Wechsler published "Boggs: A Comedy of Values."
(WSJ, 8/11/99, p.A16)(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.W8)
1985 Pres. Reagan signed into law
the Gold Bullion Coin Act that authorized the government to mint gold
coins.
(SFC, 7/14/04, p.C1)
1985 Sep, In NYC ministers of the
Group of Seven (G-7) major industrial countries unified and adopted the
Plaza Accord for currency intervention and struggled to control capital
exchange-rate movements. Led by the US Treasury's Sec. James Baker, it
was the first effort to restore some semblance of order to the monetary
system since the collapse of the postwar Breton Woods gold-anchored
finance systems in the early 1970s. In the wake of the accord the
dollar lost almost 30% of its value.
(WSJ, 8/3/95, p.A-8)(WSJ, 3/8/04, p.A2)(Econ,
10/9/04, p.72)
1986 Apr 3, US national debt hit
$2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion).
(MC, 4/3/02)
1986 Jul 7, Supreme Court struck
down Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1986 Sep, China’s 1st stock market
opened in Shanghai.
(SFC, 2/20/96, p.A4)
1987 Feb 22, The Finance Ministers
and Central Bank Governors of six major industrial countries (Canada,
France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, G6) met in Paris
and agreed in the Louvre Accord to bring down the value of the dollar.
(Econ, 4/29/06,
p.82)(www.g7.utoronto.ca/finance/fm870408.htm)
1987 Jun 2, President Reagan
announced he was nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul
Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
(AP, 6/2/97)
1987 Jun 30, Canada introduced a
one dollar coin that was soon nicknamed the Loonie.
(WSJ, 11/6/97,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie)
1987 Sep, Eamonn Fingleton
authored an article in Euromoney titled “Why Japanese Banks Are Shaky.”
(www.fingleton.net/about_ef.php)
1987 Oct 19, Black Monday, the
stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, amid frenzied
selling, plunged 508 points, 22.6%,-- its biggest-ever one-day decline.
The crash was preceded by legislation to block tax deductions for debt
incurred in corporate takeovers which were fueling the market. It was
also preceded by plunges in other international markets. Hong Kong
suffered a 46% decline in October.
(V.D.-H.K.p.253)(TMC, 1994, p.1987)(AP,
10/19/97)(SFC,10/27/97, p.B2)
1987 The US government slashed
interest rates following the stock market crash.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1987 The US government gave banks
permission to sell bonds.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A8)
1987 Andy Krieger sold short more
kiwis than the entire money supply of New Zealand. The kiwi collapsed
and Krieger banked his profits.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.108)
1988 The Museum of American
Finance was founded in NYC and housed on Broadway. On Jan 11, 2008, it
opened in new quarters at 48 Wall Street, the former headquarters of
the Bank of New York.
(Econ, 1/19/08, p.93)(www.financialhistory.org/)
1988 George Soros, billionaire
financier, traded shares of French bank Societe Generale prior to a
takeover. A court in 2002 alleged insider knowledge and fined him $2.2
million. Soros had declined to participate in takeover deal but bought
shares that gained him $2.28 million.
(SFC, 12/21/02, p.B1)
1988 Australia pioneered the use
of plastic money.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.71)
1989 Apr 1, A Japanese 3 percent
consumption, or sales tax, took effect. It earned Sadanori Yamanaka
(d.2004) the nickname "Mr. Consumption Tax." Yamanaka led the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party's tax commission for eight years, beginning in
1979.
(AP, 2/20/04)
1989 Aug 17, The Commerce
Department reported the U.S. trade deficit had shrunk to $8.7 billion
in June.
(AP, 8/17/99)
1989 Dec 31, The Japanese Nikkei
Index peaked at 38,915. The DJIA was at 2753.
(WSJ, 9/5/01, p.C1)
1989 The central bank of Argentina
suffered losses in Q2 worth 23.5% of GDP.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.74)
1989 New Zealand became the 1st
country to introduce inflation targets.
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.76)
1989 The central bank of Nicaragua
suffered losses worth 13.8% of GDP.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.74)
1990 Apr 1, The US Federal Hourly
Minimum Wage was set at $3.80 an hour.
(www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm)
1990 May 23, Neil Bush, son of the
president, denied any wrongdoing as a director of a failed Denver
savings-and-loan in testimony before Congress. The cost of rescuing US
savings & loan failures was put at up to $130 billion.
(AP,
5/23/00)(www.mof.go.jp/english/f_review/fr51e.htm)
1990 Aug 17, The Commerce
Department reported the US trade deficit shrank to $8.17 billion
in June.
(AP, 8/17/00)
1990 Inflation in Chile hit 26%.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.74)
1990 Japan raised its interest
rates and ordered banks to curtail property lending. This resulted in a
major crash in land values. Speculation in domestic real estate,
stocks, overpriced overseas investments, and foreign pressure to force
the value of the yen upward causes a collapse of the "bubble economy."
(WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-1)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 217)
1990-1992 In the US 834 banks failed during this
period.
(WSJ, 7/14/08, p.A1)
1991 Jun 6, Sylvia Porter (77),
economist, author (Money Book), died.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1991 Jul 17, The US Senate voted
53-to-45 to give itself a $23,200 pay raise while at the same time
banning outside speaking fees.
(AP, 7/17/01)
1991 In the US 124 FDIC-insured
banks failed this year. By the end of the year the FDIC insurance fund
was insolvent.
(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A10)
1991 The European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was founded to help free markets
take root in the ex-communist countries of central and eastern Europe.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.78)
1992 Sep 14, Germany cut key
interest rates for the first time in five years, an action the United
States and European Community nations had been urging to help spur a
world economic recovery.
(AP, 9/14/97)
1992 Sep 14, The Italian Lira was
devalued 7%. This forced Italy to withdraw from the Exchange Rate
Mechanism (ERM), which was necessary to join European Monetary Union.
(http://tinyurl.com/eh943)
1992 Sep 16, Britain under John
Major devalued the pound and the economy soared. The day became known
as “Black Wednesday.” George Soros pocketed $2 billion on his short
sale of $10 billion. The event is documented in Robert Slater's Soros:
"The Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor."
Britain’s Conservative government was forced to withdraw the Pound from
the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) due to pressure by currency
speculators.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.A1)(Econ, 3/25/06,
p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday)
1994 Mar 22, The Federal Reserve
for fear of inflation announced it was raising short-term interest
rates from 3.25 to 3.5 percent, the second such boost of the year. By
Nov the 10-year bond rate rose to 8% from about 5.4% the previous
September.
(AP, 3/22/99)(SSFC, 7/6/03, p.I1)
1994 Apr 4, On Wall Street stocks
plummeted in violent spasms of selling that sent the Dow industrial
down more than 40 points to a six-month low.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1994 Jul 8, Leaders of the Group
of Seven nations opened their 20th annual economic summit in Italy.
Silvio Berlusconi hosted the G-7 summit in Naples.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.A12)(AP, 7/8/99)(Econ, 1/22/05,
p.46)
1994 The US Riegle-Neal act
allowed banks to branch out across state borders.
(Econ, 5/21/05, Survey p.8)
1994 China pegged the yuan, also
known as the renminbi (people's money), at about 8.28 to the US dollar.
(SFC, 7/5/03, p.B1)
1995 Mar 2, Ted Truman, a top
int’l. staffer at the Federal Reserve, reported to Alan Greenspan that
massive dollar sales were driving down the US currency. In response the
Fed and Treasury bought $600 million in marks and yen and repeated the
action next day joined by 13 central banks.
(WSJ, 1/18/05, p.A13)
1995 Mar 3, The dollar plunged to
a new low against the Japanese yen. In response the Fed and US Treasury
bought more yen and were joined by 13 central banks. American and Japan
intervened in 1995 to halt the dollar’s slide against the yen. The
dollar stabilized.
(AP, 3/3/00)(Econ, 3/29/08, p.100)
1995 Mar 28, In Japan, Mitsubishi
Bank and the Bank of Tokyo agreed to a merger to create what was then
the world's largest bank.
(AP, 3/28/00)
1995 May 3, The government
reported that its Index of Leading Economic Indicators dropped half a
percentage point in March 1995, its biggest tumble in two years.
(AP, 5/3/00)
1996 Mar 25, The redesigned $100
bill went into circulation.
(AP, 3/25/97)
1996 May 16, The US Treasury Dept.
announced planned to issue a new type of government bond that would
protect investors from inflation and help government finance the
national debt. The new bond would offer returns that would rise and
fall in line with inflation.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 16, The government
announced a plan to pay debt-strapped home-owners up to 30% of their
monthly mortgage payments thus easing the pressure on the country’s
bleeding banks.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-15)
1996 Peter Bernstein authored
"Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk."
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.A1)
1996 Ludovico Filotti, a former
employee of Barings, persuaded his new employer, a large Japanese bank,
to purchase Italian zero coupon postal bonds in an arbitrage scheme
under falling interest rates. Other bankers followed and within days
$3.6 billion worth of bonds were sold. They matured after the euro
deadline and were not counted as current debt.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.108,110)
1997 Mar 25, The Federal Reserve
nudged interest rates higher for the first time in two years, hoping to
stifle any threat of rising inflation.
(AP, 3/24/98)
1997 May 6, British PM Tony Blair,
on the first full working day of the new Labor government, gave the
Bank of England the right to set interest rates. Labor had won power
pledging that it would by the party of welfare reform. In October the
Bank of England lost its supervisory powers over banks to the new
Financial Services Authority.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C2)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.63)(Econ,
3/10/07, p.52)(Econ, 6/14/08, p.70)
1997 "The History of Money" by
Jack Weatherford was published.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.5)
1997 A Swiss federal law made
money laundering and abetting it a criminal offense.
(Econ, 2/14/04, Survey p.12)
1998 May 11, A French mint
produced the first coins of Europe's single currency, the euro.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1998 Jul 31, The Canadian dollar
hit a historical low of 66.10 cents to $1US.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 17, The Federal Reserve
Board approved the megamerger of NationsBank and BankAmerica.
(AP, 8/17/99)
1998 Oct 3, The G-7 finance
ministers agreed to explore Pres. Clinton's proposed strategy for early
IMF intervention to support weak economies. Masaru Hayami, governor of
the Bank of Japan, said that capital supporting 19 major banks had
dwindled to dangerously low levels.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 10/5/98, p.A3)
1999 Jan 1, The BAFFLING
countries, Belgium, Austria, France, Finland, Luxembourg, Ireland, the
Netherlands and Germany were expected to begin using the new "euro"
currency. Public use began Jan 1, 2002. [see Jan 4]
(SFC, 3/7/96, p.A12)(SFC, 1/1/02, p.A2)
1999 Jan 4, The US mint began
distributing a new series of commemorative state quarters. The first
one from Delaware marked the 1776 ride of Caesar Rodney from Dover to
Philadelphia to vote for the Declaration of Independence. Rep. Michael
Castle of Delaware dreamed up the program in 1996.
(SFC, 1/5/99, p.A2)(WSJ, 12/29/03, p.A4)
1999 Jan 4, The euro, the new
money of 11 European nations, got off to a strong start on its first
trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets and
closed in New York at $1.181.
(SFC, 1/5/99, p.C2)(AP, 1/4/00)(HN, 1/4/01)
1999 Jan 11, Hillary Clinton
unveiled a new silver commemorative dollar in honor of Dolly Madison.
The coin, designed by Tiffany, was the first to honor a first lady but
was not legal tender.
(SFC, 1/12/99, p.A3)
1999 Jul 15, The US House voted to
give Congress a pay raise of $4,600 in January and to double the next
president's salary to $400,000.
(WSJ, 7/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 24, The Federal Reserve
raised borrowing costs for millions of Americans, increasing its target
for the federal funds rate by a quarter point to 5.25 percent, and
hiking the discount rate a quarter point to 4.75 percent.
(SFC, 8/25/99, p.A1)(AP, 8/24/00)
1999 Oct 13, Robert A. Mundell
(66), a Canadian born professor at Columbia Univ., won the Nobel Prize
in Economics for his study of cross-border capital flows, flexible
foreign exchange rates, and supply side economics. A 1961 paper by
Mundell had pioneered the theory of an “optimal currency area,” which
later helped shape the euro zone.
(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A2)(Econ, 6/13/09, SR p.10)
1999 Nov 12, Pres. Clinton signed
a measure knocking down Depression-era barriers and allowing banks,
investment firms and insurance companies to sell each other’s products.
Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the
Glass-Steagall Act.
(SFC, 11/13/99,
p.D1)(www.moneymanagerservices.com/News/02-01-2000-1.cfm)
1999 The IMF put $4 billion into
Turkey.
(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A14)
2000 Feb 2, The US Federal Reserve
raised short-term interest rates by .25%.
(SFC, 2/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 23, Horst Koehler (57) of
Germany, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, became the new president of the 182-nation IMF following
endorsement by the 24-member board of directors.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.D4)
2000 Mar, EU leaders met in
Lisbon, Spain, and agreed to turn Europe into the world’s most
competitive economy by 2010.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.15)
2000 Apr 16, In Washington DC
police blocked some 10,000 protesters from disrupting the meetings of
the World Bank and the IMF. Finance ministers and central bankers
issued a statement that pledged to seek greater debt relief for the
poorest countries and to reform the IMF to prevent future financial
crises.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/01)
2000 May 3, The Euro fell below 90
cents to the dollar for the first time.
(WSJ, 5/4/00, p.A18)
2000 May 16, The Federal Reserve
raised its federal funds rate by one-half point, the biggest increase
in five years.
(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A1)(AP, 5/16/01)
2000 May 24, New US $5 and $10
bills were scheduled to be shipped to banks. The engravings of Lincoln
and Hamilton would be larger and off center.
(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Jun 19, EU leaders in
Portugal approved Greece’s bid to join the euro beginning Jan 1, 2001.
(WSJ, 6/20/00, p.A23)
2000 Sep 22, The US Federal
Reserve joined counterparts in Europe and Japan to intervene in
currency markets in support of the euro. G7 action supported the euro.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.D1)(Econ, 3/29/08, p.100)
2000 Dec 4, The Turkey stock
market fell 8% and marked a 2-week drop of 40% as interest rates soared
to 1,200%. Officials began talks with the IMF for a $5 billion loan.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A15)
2000 Dec 6, The IMF agreed to
grant Turkey $7.5 billion in emergency loans.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.C12)
2001 Jan 3, The US Federal Reserve
under Alan Greenspan, outside its normal schedule of meetings, reduced
interest rates by a half % and sent the NASDAQ up 324 points to 2616.
The Dow rose 299 to 10,945.
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A1)(Econ, 10/20/07, SR p.16)
2001 Apr 18, The US Federal
Reserve lowered short term interest rates by a half point to 4.5%. The
DJIA rose 399 to 10,615. NASDAQ rose 156 to 2079.
(SFC, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 May 15, The US Federal
Reserve lowered the short term federal funds interest rate .5% to 4%.
(SFC, 5/16/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 1, In the US lower tax
rates went into effect for some middle and upper-income taxpayers.
(SSFC, 7/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 31, The US Treasury began
issuing new 4-week T-bills.
(SFC, 12/10/08,
p.C4)(http://money.cnn.com/2001/08/30/expert/expert/index.htm)
2001 Aug 21, The US Federal
Reserve announced another .25% lowering of the short-term federal funds
interest rate.
(SFC, 8/22/01, p.C1)
2001 Oct, The US Treasury stopped
selling 30-year bonds.
(WSJ, 3/15/05, p.C5)
2001 Nov 6, The Federal Reserve
lowered interest rates for the 10th time this year. The half point drop
put the benchmark fed funds rate to 2% and the discount rate to 1.5%,
its lowest level in 40 years. The DJIA rose 150 to 9591. The NASDAQ
rose 41 to 1835.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.B1)(WSJ, 11/7/01, p.A2)(AP, 11/6/02)
2001 Nov, The 2001 US recession,
the 1st since the early 1990s, ended after 8 months according to a 2003
report by the National Bureau of Standards.
(SFC, 7/18/03, p.B1)
2001 Dec 14, European nations
began distributing a "Eurokit" of euro coins in advance of the Jan 1
day when the euro becomes legal tender.
(SFC, 12/15/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 30, Colombia seized $41
million in counterfeit US currency.
(WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A1)
2002 Jan 1, In Europe 50 billion
new euro coins and 14 billion new euro notes began circulating in 12
participating countries in the most ambitious currency changeover in
history.
(SFC, 1/2/02, p.A8)(AP, 1/1/03)
2002 Jason Goodwin authored
"Greenback," historical anecdotes on US currency.
(WSJ, 1/9/03, p.D10)
2002 The average CEO in the US
earned 282 times the salary of an average worker. In 1982 the ratio was
42 to 1.
(WSJ, 4/12/04, p.R11)
2002 Tencent Holdings PLC, a
Chinese Internet company, designed a virtual currency payment system
for users in its virtual world. The system caught on and users began
trading it at a discount to the yuan. In 2007 Chinese ministries and
the central bank waged a crackdown on the QQ coin in order to prevent
money laundering.
(WSJ, 3/30/07, p.B1)
2003 Jan 15, The Bush
administration said the 2003 budget deficit will exceed $200 billion
and probably go over $300 billion in 2004.
(SFC, 1/16/03, p.A7)
2003 May 13, The US government
unveiled a new $20 bill with color added to help thwart counterfeiters.
$130 million of counterfeit US money was estimated to be circulating
globally. It began circulating in October.
(USAT, 5/13/03, p.1B)(SFC, 10/10/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 9, Freddie Mac, a US
government-sponsored mortgage company, ousted 3 top officials. The 4th
largest US financial company had assets of $722 billion at the end of
2002.
(WSJ, 6/10/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 25, The US Federal
Reserve cut short-term interest rates by one-quarter percent. The new
1% rate was the lowest since 1958.
(BS, 6/26/03, 1A)
2003 Jul 15, The Bush
administration reported that this year's deficit will reach $445
billion.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 4, The US House agreed to
a 2.2 percent pay raise for Congress, enough to boost lawmakers' annual
salaries to about $158,000 next year.
(AP, 9/4/03)
2003 Oct, 9 The new peach and blue
redesigned US $20 bill made its debut.
(WSJ, 10/10/03, p.C3)
2003 Oct 20, The US deficit
doubled to $374 billion in fiscal 2003 and was on track to exceed $500
billion for the year.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.R12)
2003 Michael Watts edited "The
Literary Book of Economics."
(WSJ, 8/13/03, p.D4)
2003 Bavaria originated a local
currency called the chiemgauer, named after the region where it
originated. The currency was created to lose value every month and
could be renewed for a sticker costing 2% of its value, which
encouraged quick spending.
(Econ, 1/24/09, p.81)
2003 Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul
All-Share Index posted a 76% gain for the year.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.C18)
2004 Feb 18, The US federal debt
passed the $7 trillion mark.
(WSJ, 2/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 24, Alan Greenspan warned
of too much concentration of financial risk in the books of mortgage
giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
(WSJ, 2/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 4, It was reported that
new nickels honoring the 1803 Louisiana Purchase have been shipped to
the Federal Reserve. A new Jefferson nickel was set for 2005.
(SFC, 4/25/03, B3)(SFC, 11/7/03, p.A2)(AP,
3/4/04)(SFC, 9/14/04, p.D3)
2004 Mar 20, The Economist
reported that a Goldman Sachs study found consumers in Australia and
Spain to be the most vulnerable, of 19 countries, to higher interest
rates or recession.
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.85)
2004 Mar 29, Gov. Schwarzenegger
unveiled a new California quarter to be minted in Jan 2004. It featured
John Muir and Yosemite's Half Dome along with a flying condor.
(SFC, 3/30/04, p.B3)
2004 Apr 26, The US unveiled a new
$50 bill to make counterfeiting more difficult.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.C1)
2004 Apr 28, The US monetary
policy subcommittee approved a bill to put the faces of US presidents
on new dollar coins.
(SFC, 4/29/04, p.C3)
2004 May 3, Production began for
the US Mint’s Texas quarter, designed by Daniel Miller. The unveiling
was set for June 10.
(USAT, 5/18/04, p.17A)
2004 May 17, India's stock market
took the biggest one-day plunge in its 129-year history as investors
panicked over how communist parties would influence the new government.
An investigation followed into the alleged murky dealings by a dozen
foreign firms.
(AP, 5/17/04)(Econ, 5/28/05, p.76)
2004 May, Brian Knutson, professor
of neuroscience at Stanford Univ., used an fMRI imaging machine to
study brain patterns and found that the same neural networks in the
brain responded to orgasm, cocaine and stock trading. He also found
that these networks can and often do override the frontal cortex, our
seat of reason.
(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.J4)
2004 Jun 30, The US Federal
Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point.
(SFC, 7/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 17, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo
launched a wallet phone aimed to combine cash and cell phones with a
small embedded chip that can store money and personal information.
(Reuters, 7/18/04)
2004 Aug 10, The US Federal
Reserve Open Market Committee (FMOC) hiked the federal funds target
rate, to 1.50 percent from 1.25 percent.
(AFP, 8/11/04)
2004 Sep 11, The US fiscal gap,
measured as future receipts minus future obligations, was reported to
be between $40 and 72 trillion. The debt portended a severe economic
decline or financial collapse.
(SSFC, 9/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 21, The US Federal
Reserve raised the overnight federal-funds interest rate a quarter
point to 1.75%.
(SFC, 9/22/04, p.C1)
2004 Sep 28, The US Treasury
issued a new $50 bill with touches of red, blue and yellow.
(AP, 9/28/04)
2004 Sep 30, US fiscal year 2004
ended. The CBO soon estimated a budget deficit for the year of about
$415 billion.
(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A9)
2004 Oct 2, IMF and World Bank
officials in Washington DC failed to resolve their differences over
debt relief for the world's poorest countries and Iraq while expressing
concern about the impact high oil prices would have on a strengthening
global economy.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 7, It was reported that
municipal tax shelters would cost the US government an estimated $4.4
billion in uncollected taxes for fiscal year 2004.
(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 14, The US Treasury
reported that the federal deficit surged to $413 billion in 2004.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 19, Canada raised its
interest rates .025% from 2.25 to 2.50%.
(WSJ, 10/20/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 26, India’s central bank
announced it was raising its overnight repo rate for the first time in
more than four years, citing concerns about a sharp rise in inflation
in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The rate went up .25% to 4.75%.
(AP, 10/26/04)(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 28, China's central bank
raised interest rates for the first time in 9 years in a surprise move
that was aimed at guiding a heated economy onto a path of slower
growth. The rate increase .25% to 5.6%.
(Reuters, 10/28/04)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.12)
2004 Nov 5, The US dollar fell to
an all-time low against the euro as EU political leaders signaled they
have no unified plan to stem the rise in their five-year-old currency.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 9, A NY state Supreme
Court ruled that National Collector’s Mint engaged in a deceptive
advertising campaign in selling its 2004 Freedom Tower silver dollar.
The coin was worth less than 1 ½ cents in metal, but sold
at $19.95.
(SFC, 11/10/04, p.C4)
2004 Nov 10, The US Federal
Reserve raised the overnight federal-funds interest rate a quarter
point. Another raise was expected Dec 14.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 12, It was reported that
Japan and China owned about a quarter of outstanding US Treasury debt.
They held $723 and $172 billion respectively.
(WSJ, 11/12/04, p.C4)
2004 Nov 14, It was reported that
since 2002 the dollar has lost about 20% against a broad basket of
currencies and over 40% against the euro.
(SSFC, 11/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 19, Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan warned about spiraling deficits and the impact
on the declining dollar. The Dow Jones fell 115 to 10456.9.
(SFC, 11/20/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 26, The dollar reached a
new low against the euro at 1.3288 euros per dollar. The euro peaked at
1.3329.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.C1)(WSJ, 11/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 4, The euro closed at a
record $1.3460. Over the next few years “it seems an excellent bet that
there will be a large drop in the dollar.”
(SFC, 12/7/04, p.D3)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.71)
2004 Dec 8, China’s Premier Wen
Jiabao repeated that China will move gradually to a flexible exchange
rate.
(WSJ, 12/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 14, The US Federal
Reserve raised its federal funds rate .25% to 2.25%. The Commerce Dept.
reported that the US trade deficit in October swelled to $55.5 billion.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.C1,3)
2004 Dec 17, It was reported that
China paid out $15 billion per month to keep the yuan fixed at 8.277 to
the US dollar.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 27, The euro reached an
intraday high of $1.364.
(WSJ, 12/28/04, p.C2)
2004 Dec 30, Taiwan increased
interest rates by .125% pushing the discount rate to 1.75%.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A6)
2004 Dec 31, Bulgarian authorities
picked up Suleyman Demirel, one-time owner of Egebank and nephew of
former pres. Demirel, and returned him to Turkey for trial. Egebank’s
collapse had caused financial losses of $1.2 billion.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.14)
2004 Dec, Turkey signed a $10
billion 3-year economic agreement with the IMF.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.12)
2004 Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul
All-Share Index posted a 85% gain for the year.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.C18)
2004 South Africa launched the
Mzansi bank account, a basic account designed to bring citizens into
the nation’s financial system. In May, 2005, it won its millionth
customer.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.77)
2004 Inflation in the Ukraine hit
a 4-year high of 12.3%.
(WSJ, 3/28/05, p.A14)
2005 Jan 1, Japan’s currency
opened at 102.41 yen to the dollar. Rising oil prices pushed it down in
April to 108.91 to the dollar.
(WSJ, 4/7/05, p.C16)
2005 Jan 9, In Basel, Switzerland,
central bankers, joined by commercial counterparts and financial
regulators from around the globe, opened a 2-day meeting to discuss
ways to ensure smooth economic growth amid worries over widening U.S.
deficits.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 19, The US Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 3.3% in
2004, the largest gain since 2000.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A2)
2005 Jan 19, Brazil raised its
reference lending rate for a 5th consecutive month by a half point to
18.25% in an effort to curb inflation.
(WSJ, 1/20/05, p.A12)
2005 Jan 22, Turkey’s large debt
was reported to amount to about 74% of its GDP.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.47)
2005 Jan 26, The World Economic
Forum, the global business meeting that attracts world leaders and
Hollywood stars, opened in Davos, Switzerland. A Chinese economist said
that China has lost faith in the stability of the US dollar and would
seek to broaden the exchange rate for the yuan to a more flexible
basket of currencies.
(AP, 1/26/05)(SFC, 1/27/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 31, The Bond Market
Association (BMA) began displaying prices of municipal bond trades
within 15 minutes of completion. Real time for virtually all corporate
bond prices was expected by Feb 7.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.70)
2005 Feb 2, The US Federal Open
Market Committee, for the 6th straight meeting, increased its target
for overnight interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 2.50% and
signaled that rates will rise further in coming months.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 25, Argentina’s debt swap
offer, to cover a total debt of $102.6 billion, closed. Argentina
planned to issue $35.2 billion in new bonds to those who accepted the
swap.
(WSJ, 3/28/05, p.A14)
2005 Feb 20, An estimate of the
total US debt, public and private, amounted to $37 trillion.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.C3)
2005 Feb 22, The DJIA fell 174
points to 10,611 as oil prices soared to $51.15 per barrel. The Euro
closed up at $1.326.
(SFC, 2/23/05, p.C1)
2005 Feb 28, The US Mint began
distributing new buffalo nickels to banks. The reverse side showed a
bolder profile of Thomas Jefferson.
(SFC, 2/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 2, It was reported that
the Palm Beach, Fla., hedge fund KL Financial, with assets of $200
million, had run out of funds.
(WSJ, 3/2/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 2, Alan Greenspan warned
that US federal budget deficits are unsustainable and urged Congress to
cut spending.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 2, The US Treasury
proposed rules for a new Roth 401(k).
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 11, The US Commerce Dept.
reported the US trade deficit for January hi $58.3 billion. It was just
below the all-time high set in Nov, 2004.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 16, It was reported that
the US deficit had widened to 6.3% of GDP in the 4th quarter and that
America would have to borrow a net $750 billion to sustain it.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.78)
2005 Mar 16, China's central bank
tightened mortgage lending rules to raise the cost of borrowing for
home loans in an effort to cool the sizzling property market.
(AP, 3/17/05)(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 22, The US Federal
Reserve raised its fed funds rate a quarter point to 2.75%.
(SFC, 3/23/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 24, In a move to further
strengthen Cuba's national currency, Cuban President Fidel Castro
announced that one of two types of money accepted on the island will no
longer be automatically traded 1-1 to the US dollar. Beginning April 9,
the exchange rate for the Cuban convertible peso will no longer be on
par with the American dollar and instead will be tied to several
foreign currencies, initially marking an 8 percent revaluation. The
move will also help raise the value of the regular peso.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, US 30-year mortgages
climbed just above 6% reflecting concerns in the financial markets
about the threat of inflation.
(SFC, 3/25/05, p.C1)
2005 Mar 28, It was reported that
Japanese consumer prices had fallen in February at their fastest pace
in nearly 2 years. Japan’s deflation was now almost 6 years old. The
Ministry of Finance said government debt hit a new record high of
$7.062 trillion as of the end of Dec.
(WSJ, 3/28/05, p.A14)
2005 Mar 30, The US Bureau of
Economic Analysis final estimate of inflation adjusted GDP indicated
3.8% growth for the 4th quarter of 2004.
(www.bea.gov/bea/dn1.htm)
2005 Mar, The US Senate passed the
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. It imposed a
means test that would force people who earn more than their state’s
median income into Chapter 13, requiring debtors to submit a repayment
plan.
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.36)
2005 Apr 1, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul
All-Share Index reached a record 10853, up 28% for the year this far.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.C18)
2005 Apr 4, The US Treasury Dept.
said all Series EE bonds sold after May 1 will pay interest rates that
are fixed for at least 20 years.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Apr 5, The IMF warned that
the growing market for credit derivatives and other complex securities
could suffer a rapid selloff if conditions turned negative.
(WSJ, 4/6/05, p.A6)
2005 Apr 6, The World Bank warned
that the global economic recovery has peaked and that the severity of
the coming slowdown depended on how skittish foreign investors are
about buying US-dollar denominated assets.
(WSJ, 4/7/05, p.A2)
2005 Apr 6, South Korea, faced
with ballooning foreign-exchange reserves, announced plans to drive
companies to invest excess dollars abroad rather than at home.
(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A15)
2005 Apr 12, The US Commerce Dept.
said the US trade deficit, aggravated by surging imports of oil and
textiles, soared to an all-time high of $61.04 billion in February.
(AP, 4/12/05)
2005 Apr 20, The US government
said consumer prices jumped 0.6 percent in March, the biggest inflation
surge in 5 months, as the costs of energy, clothing and airline fares
all rose sharply.
(AP, 4/20/05)
2005 Apr 19, The US Mint said it
will produce its 1st 24-karat gold coin in 2006.
(WSJ, 4/20/05, p.D2)
2005 Apr 20, Pres. Bush signed new
legislation to make individual bankruptcy more difficult.
(SFC, 4/21/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 20, The NYSE, in a move
toward computerized trading, agreed to buy Archipelago Holdings of
Chicago in a reverse merger. The new company, to be called NYSE Group
was valued at $3.5 billion.
(WSJ, 4/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 20, The US government
said consumer prices jumped 0.6 percent in March, the biggest inflation
surge in 5 months, as the costs of energy, clothing and airline fares
all rose sharply. The DJIA fell 115.5 to 10,012.36.
(AP, 4/20/05)(SFC, 4/21/05, p.C1)
2005 Apr 28, India’s central bank
raised its key interest rate to 5% to stem inflation.
(WSJ, 4/29/05, p.A15)
2005 Apr 30, “With all of its
liabilities in dollars and most of its assets in foreign currencies,
America gets a wealth boost when the dollar drops.” The Bank of Japan
and other central banks have amassed $2 trillion in foreign-exchange
reserves, perhaps 70% in dollars. Should the dollar fall, these central
banks will be exposed to heavy capital losses.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.70,74)
2005 May 2, Brazil posted a record
trade surplus for the month of April. During the month its currency
rose 5% against the dollar.
(WSJ, 5/3/05, p.A14)
2005 May 3, The US Federal Reserve
hiked the fed funds target rate by a quarter-point to an even 3%,
marking a cumulative increase of two full percentage points in the past
10 months. That increase was matched by a quarter-point increase in
commercial banks' prime lending rate, the benchmark rate for millions
of consumer and business loans, which moved up to 6 percent, the
highest that rate has been since the fall of 2001.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 18, Hong Kong said it
would place a cap on its currency's exchange rate to the U.S dollar,
but an official denied that the move signaled China would soon revalue
its currency.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 19, J.P. Morgan Chase
introduced a no-swipe plastic credit card that used an embedded chip
and RFID technology as well as the usual magnetic strip.
(SFC, 5/20/05, p.C1)
2005 Jun 30, The US Federal
Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point. It marked the 9th
increase since tightening began in 2004.
(SFC, 7/1/04, p.A1)
2005 Jul 21, China scrapped the
yuan's peg to the US dollar and tied it to a basket of currencies
revaluing the yuan by 2.1 percent and leaving the door open to further
rises.
(Reuters, 7/21/05)
2005 Aug 9, The US Federal Reserve
raised interest rates by a quarter point to 3.5%. It marked the 10th
increase since tightening began in 2004.
(SFC, 8/10/05, p.C1)
2005 Nov 1, The US Federal Reserve
raised its benchmark interest rate another quarter point for the 12th
time to 4%.
(SFC, 11/2/05, p.D1)
2005 Dec 14, The US Federal
Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the 13th time a quarter
point to 4.25%. it also indicated that it was close to ending the
18-month long increases.
(SFC, 12/14/05, p.C1)
2006 Jan 31, Alan Greenspan (79)
served the last day of his 18-year tenure as chairman of the US Federal
Reserve. Ben Bernanke (52), Princeton Univ. prof. of economics, was
scheduled to replace him. At Greenspan's final meeting, the central
bank voted to boost its target for the federal funds rate to 4.5
percent. It was the 14th quarter-point move in a credit-tightening
campaign that began 19 months ago.
(SFC, 1/31/06, p.E1)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.63)(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Mar 28, The US Federal
Reserve under new chairman Ben Bernanke raised its key federal funds
rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.75%, in the 15th increase since
June 2004.
(SFC, 3/29/06, p.C1)
2005 William Brittain-Catlin
authored “Offshore: The Dark Side of the Global Economy.” It focused on
the Cayman Islands, the 5th largest banking center in the world.
(SSFC, 7/10/05, p.E3)
2005 Charles Rossotti, former IRS
commissioner (1997-2002), authored “Many Unhappy Returns: One Man’s
Quest to Turn Around The Most Unpopular Organization in America,”
wherein he says that the IRS “picks on the little guy” while “largely
overlooking an ocean of money hidden in business entities…”
(SSFC, 4/10/05, p.C6)
2006 Jun 20, The US Mint at West
Point, NY, staged a promotion for the nation’s first 24-karat, pure
gold one-ounce coin, the American Buffalo. The design was based on the
1913 buffalo nickel designed by James Earle Fraser. Orders for the
bullion version began June 19, and orders for the proof coin would
begin June 22 at $875 per proof coin.
(WSJ, 6/16/06, p.C3)
2006 Jul, Interpol, at the request
of the Bush administration, assembled central bankers, police agencies
and banknote industry officials to make the US case against
counterfeiting by North Korea. In 2008 a 10-month investigation by the
McClatchy newspapers found that evidence supporting charges was
uncertain at best.
(SFC, 1/10/08, p.A13)
2006 Nov 28, A US federal judge
said the government discriminates against blind people by printing
money in bills that all feel the same, and ordered the Treasury Dept.
to fix the problem.
(SFC, 11/29/06, p.A2)
2007 Jan 1, Slovenia adopted the
euro, becoming the 13th EU nation to use the single European currency.
The transition to the euro included a 14-day period for dual use of the
euro and Slovene tolar.
(WSJ, 12/30/06, p.A4)(AP, 1/1/07)
2007 Jan 11, The US government
said Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters hidden
inside were found planted on US contractors with classified security
clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005
and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Feb 15, A new version of the
US $1 coin, paying tribute to American presidents, went into general
circulation. A unknown number were mistakenly struck without their edge
inscription “In God We Trust.”
(AP, 2/15/07)(SFC, 3/8/07, p.A2)
2007 Jul 24, The US minimum wage
rose 70 cents to $5.85 an hour, the first increase in a decade.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Aug 16, A new Jefferson one
dollar coin went into circulation nationwide. It followed the
Washington coin, which was introduced in February, and the John Adams
coin, introduced in May. The coin honoring James Madison was scheduled
to go into circulation in November.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 29, A new report said
CEOs of American companies made an average of $10.8 million last year,
more than 364 times the average pay of American workers. The 14th
annual study was a joint report from the Institute for Policy Studies
and United for a Fair Economy.
(SFC, 8/30/07, p.C3)
2007 Sep 18, The US Federal
Reserve lowered interest rates by half a point triggering a rise in the
DJIA of 336 points. The Dow close at 13,739.39. The federal funds rate
was lowered to 4.75% and the discount rate was lowered to 5.25%.
(SFC, 9/19/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 9/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 20, A new US five-dollar
bill with high-tech security features and new colors made a digital
debut, the first time the US government has exclusively used the
Internet to unveil its paper money.
(AFP, 9/20/07)
2007 Oct 11, The Canadian dollar
hit a three-decade high versus the US dollar as the greenback remained
under broad selling pressure due to expectations of more Federal
Reserve interest rate cuts.
(Reuters, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 11, South Africa's
central bank chief Tito Mboweni announced the key lending rate is to
increase by half a percentage point to 10.5% to ward off a threat of
higher inflation.
(AP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 15, It was reported that
3 of America's biggest banks are banding together to set up an $80
billion fund to breathe life back into the commercial paper market. The
Treasury Dept. was urging banks to set up a “Master Liquidity
Enhancement Conduit” to buy assets. On Dec 21 the 3 largest US banks
gave up on the fund.
(www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/video/embed.asp?id=725)(WSJ, 12/22/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 23,
The Canadian dollar roared to a 33-year high against the US
dollar after domestic retail sales data for August beat expectations.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 25, The Canadian dollar
shot to a 33-year high against a broadly weaker US dollar, as oil and
gold prices firmed, giving the commodities-based currency a boost.
(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 31,
The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point to
4.5%. The DJIA rose 137.54 to 13,930.01. Nasdaq rose 42.41 to 2,859.
Oil futures rose to a new record high closing at $94.53 per barrel on
the NY mercantile Exchange. Gold traded above $800 an ounce for the
first time since 1980.
(SFC, 11/1/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 11/1/07, p.C1)(AP,
10/31/08)
2007 Nov 2, Gold futures at the NY
Mercantile Exchange set a contract high of $805.70, its highest level
since the $873 contract high reached in January 1980.
(WSJ, 11/3/07, p.B3)
2007 Nov 7, Australia's central
bank raised interest rates 0.25 points to an 11-year high of 6.75
percent in a move expected to hurt PM John Howard's re-election hopes.
(AFP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 7, The US dollar fell
sharply after a Chinese parliamentarian called for his country to
diversify its reserves out of weak currencies. The Canadian dollar
hitched a ride on surging commodities prices to rise against a
beleaguered US dollar, passing US$1.10.
(Reuters, 11/7/07)(Econ, 11/10/07, p.93)
2007 Nov 7, Prosecutors said 2
mid-level DC government employees used phony paperwork to collect more
than $16 million from illegal tax refunds, avoiding detection for at
least three years while issuing more than 40 checks cashed by friends
and family members in on the scam. The total stolen was later raised to
some $30 million. Harriet Walters, the alleged ringleader of the scam,
authorized checks to such fake companies as Bilkemor LLC. In 2008
Walters (51) pleaded guilty to stealing some $48 million. 9 others
pleaded guilty in the scam. Walters faced 15-18 years in prison and was
ordered to pay restitution.
(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.36)(http://tinyurl.com/2o7sj5)(WSJ, 9/17/08, p.A19)
2007 Dec 3, The Bank of England
under governor Mervyn King brought down its base interest rate by a
quarter point to 5.5%.
(Econ, 12/8/07, p.65)
2007 Dec 18, EU regulators said
Mastercard must drop fees it charges for cross-border transactions or
face daily fines of 3.5 percent of daily global turnover.
(AP, 12/19/07)
2007 Dec 20, MBIA Inc, the world's
largest bond insurer, said it had guaranteed $8.1 billion of the
riskiest mortgage securities, imperiling its entire net worth and
sending its shares plunging 26 percent.
(Reuters, 12/20/07)
2007 Dec 21, The US Federal
Reserve, working to combat the effects of a severe credit crunch,
announced it had auctioned another $20 billion in funds to commercial
banks at an interest rate of 4.67%. It pledged to continue with the
auctions "for as long as necessary."
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 21, The British pound hit
an historic low against the euro owing to heightened expectations of
cuts to British interest rates in 2008.
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Rawi Abdelai authored
“Capital Rules: The Construction of Foreign Finance.”
(WSJ, 2/14/07, p.D12)
2007 Stephen Mihm authored “A
Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the
United States.”
(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.W8)
2008 Jan 1, EU newcomers Cyprus
and Malta adopted the euro, bringing to fifteen the number of countries
using the currency with increasing clout over the slumping US dollar.
(AP, 1/1/08)
2008 Jan 1, Venezuela launched a
new currency with the new year, lopping off three zeros from
denominations in a bid to simplify finances and boost confidence in a
money that has been losing value due to high inflation.
(AP, 1/1/08)
2008 Jan 2, Gold prices swept to a
record high of $861.10 above the key $850-an-ounce mark, driven by
surging oil, a weaker dollar and simmering geopolitical tensions. It
later backtracked slightly to $855.70/$856.50 in New York at 2:25 p.m.
EST.
(Reuters, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, Sterling slumped to a
record low against the euro after the release of weak British economic
data that raised expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Bank
of England.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 8, Gold futures surged
above $880 an ounce and closed at $880.30, up $18.30.
(SFC, 1/9/08, p.C3)
2008 Jan 29, Gold prices hit a
record high 933.33 dollars in London as the market was driven higher by
production problems in key producer South Africa and the weak US dollar.
(AFP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 30, The US Federal
Reserve cut its federal funds rate by half a point to 3%, and left the
door open to further cuts. The 1.25 point cut in 8 days was the largest
since it began disclosing rate moves two decades ago.
(SFC, 1/31/08, p.C1)(WSJ, 1/31/08, p.A1)
2008 Feb 14, The US Mint
officially issued the Monroe dollar coin, the 5th of its presidential
dollar series.
(WSJ, 12/27/07, p.D6)
2008 Feb 27, The euro finished
above $1.50 for the first time after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke’s testimony supported market expectations of another US rate
cut.
(WSJ, 2/28/08, p.C2)
2008 Mar 4, The Reserve Bank of
Australia raised its official cash-rate target by a quarter point to
7.25% in an effort to tighten credit as inflation remained problematic.
(WSJ, 3/5/08, p.A2)
2008 Mar 4, The Bank of Canada
slashed its overnight interest rate by 50 basis points for the first
time since November 2001, lowering it to 3.5% and signaling further
cuts to shield the economy from the damaging effects of the US slowdown.
(Reuters, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 10, Vietnam’s central
bank widened the band in which it allows the Vietnamese dong to rise or
fall against the dollar from .75% to 1%. The bank said it plans to
expand the band to 2% in an effort to unshackle its economy from the
sliding dollar.
(WSJ, 3/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Mar 11, The US Federal
Reserve and other central banks said they will pump $200 billion into
the financial markets, using the Term Securities Lending Facility
(TSLF), to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. Wall Street
rebounded with its biggest rally since 2002 at the DJIA rose 416.66 to
12,156.81. Gas prices rose to a record national level of $3.2272 per
gallon.
(AP, 3/11/08)(SFC, 3/12/08, p.B1,B3)(Econ, 3/15/08,
p.89)
2008 Mar 12, The US Treasury said
the government turned in a $175.56 billion budget deficit for February,
a record for any month. The federal deficit swelled to $263.3 billion
in the first five months of this budget year.
(Reuters, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 13, US gold futures
rallied to a record high of $1,000 an ounce, fueled by a combination of
a weakening dollar, strong investment demand and inflation fears due to
rising crude oil prices.
(AP, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 14, The near-collapse of
US investment giant Bear Stearns and its Federal Reserve bailout
heightened fears that the worst is not over for the spreading global
credit crunch.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 Mar 16, The US Federal
Reserve, acting urgently over the weekend to stabilize financial
markets, approved a cut in its emergency lending rate to 3.25% from
3.50%. The move will allow big investment firms to quickly secure
short-term loans.
(AP, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 16, JPMorgan said it
would buy Bear Stearns for $236.2 million, $2 a share, in a stunning
fall for one of the world's largest and most venerable investment banks.
(AP, 3/17/08)
2008 Apr 11, G7 finance officials
endorsed a plan to prevent financial crises and reiterated its demand
that Beijing allow the yuan to rise. They also issued a warning to
financial markets that they won’t sit by and watch the dollar continue
to slide.
(SFC, 4/12/08, p.C2)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.A3)
2008 Apr 16, The euro struck an
all-time peak of 1.5969 dollars as eurozone inflation spiked to a
record high.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 22,
The Royal Bank of Scotland announced a record share issue of 12
billion pounds to shore up its finances after huge subprime-related
writedowns and the blockbuster takeover of Dutch giant ABN Amro.
(AP, 4/22/08)
2008 Apr 23, Norway raised its
main interest rate a quarter point to 5.5%.
(WSJ, 4/24/08, p.A8)
2008 Apr 30, It was reported that
the value of spinner dolphin teeth in the Solomon Islands has
appreciated 400% in the last year from about .065 US cents to 26 US
cents. Dolphin teeth have been used there for centuries as currency.
(WSJ, 4/30/08, p.A1)
2008 May 15, Zimbabwe's opposition
reacted furiously to the prospect of a run-off poll being delayed until
the end of July, accusing authorities of flouting the law to help
Robert Mugabe cling to power. Zimbabwe introduced a new half-a-billion
dollar bank note in a bid to tackle cash shortages fed by rampant
inflation.
(AFP, 5/15/08)
2008 May 21, Ukraine moved to
strengthen its currency, the hryvnia, by revising its peg to the dollar
form 5.05 hryvnia per dollar to 4.85.
(WSJ, 5/22/08, p.C14)
2008 Jun 10, Vietnam devalued its
currency by almost 2% to bring the official exchange rate closer to
black market rates. The main interest rate was increased to 14% from
12% in an effort to tamp inflationary pressure. A week earlier PM
Nguyen Tan Dung had said there was no reason to decrease the value of
the dong.
(WSJ, 6/11/08, p.A15)
2008 Jun 12, The Bank of England
reported that inflation in May had risen to a record 4.3%.
(Econ, 6/14/08, p.71)
2008 Jul 1, Munich-based Giesecke
& Devrient, caved in to pressure from the German government to stop
supplying Zimbabwe with special blank paper money. Zimbabwe required
new notes every few weeks as the inflation rate pushed well over one
million percent.
(WSJ, 7/2/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 14, The US Mint planned
to issue the Jackson dollar coin, the 7th of its presidential dollar
series.
(www.wsmv.com/money/17190311/detail.html?rss=nash&psp=news#-)
2008 Aug 21, Forbes magazine
reported that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej (80) is the world's
richest royal sovereign with a fortune estimated at 35 billion dollars,
and oil-rich Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (60) of Abu Dhabi is
far back at No. 2 with 23 billion.
(AFP, 8/21/08)
2008 Aug 21, David Walker,
recently with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), was the
subject of the film documentary I.O.U.S.A. The film focused on
America’s financial condition and that it is a lot worse than
advertised, as the US debt rose to $9.5 trillion. It was produced by
Sarah Gibson, Christine O'Malley; directed by Patrick Creadon; written
by Patrick Creadon, Christine O'Malley; music by Peter Golub;
distributed by Roadside Attractions.
(Econ, 8/16/08, p.68)(http://tinyurl.com/4t3r2g)
2008 Aug 29, US banking regulators
shut down Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., and sold all
deposits to Regions Financial Corp. of Birmingham, Ala. This marked the
10th US bank to fail this year.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.B3)
2008 Sep 16, Urgently trying to
keep cash flowing amid a Wall Street meltdown, the Federal Reserve
pumped another $70 billion into the nation's financial system to help
ease credit stresses. Late in the day the Federal Reserve agreed to a
2-year $85 billion loan to insurance giant American International Group
(AIG) in exchange for a 79.9% equity stake in the form of warrants
called equity participation notes. Central banks in the US, Europe and
Japan pumped tens of billions into their banking systems to keep money
flowing.
(AP, 9/16/08)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/17/08, p.A1)
2008 Sep 17, Gold prices rose $70
to close at $850.50, its biggest one-day price jump ever.
(SFC, 9/18/08, p.C3)
2008 Sep 18, Central banks around
the world poured in $180 billion in extra liquidity to calm markets
made jittery by the mayhem on Wall Street. An SEC measure took effect
making short sellers and their broker dealers deliver securities by the
close of business on the settlement date, three days after the sale.
The Bush administration asked lawmakers for the power to rescue banks
by buying distressed assets. Pres. Bush said “markets are adjusting” as
he defended the government’s recent moves.
(AP, 9/18/08)(Reuters, 9/18/08)(SFC, 9/19/08,
p.A14)(WSJ, 9/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Sep 19, US federal securities
regulators, in an effort to boost investor confidence in the face of a
market crisis, took the dramatic step of temporarily banning the
trading practice of short selling financial stocks. The rules were soon
adjusted to allow bona fide market making and hedging activity. The SEC
eased buyback rules allowing corporations to purchase in one day up to
100% of the average daily trading volume of their stock.
(AP, 9/19/08)(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A9,B1)
2008 Sep 19, A global recovery in
markets took place after the US took steps to limit damage from a
seize-up in world credit markets following the forced private sale or
government takeover in recent days. The Bank of England offered to lend
an additional 22 billion pounds (40 billion dollars) to financial
institutions struggling to obtain funds amid a worldwide squeeze on
credit.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 22, The price of oil
jumped $16.37 to $120.92 per barrel, its biggest single-day gain ever,
as the dollar posted its worst single-day percentage drop. During the
day oil had soared to as high as $130 per barrel.
(SFC, 9/23/08, p.D1)(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.C2)
2008 Sep 23, The Bush
administration urgently pressed Congress in public and private to move
quickly on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry as
Democratic and Republican lawmakers vented their anger over a crisis
that pushed the nation's economy to the brink.
(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 29, The US House of
Representatives rejected the Bush administration’s $700 billion
emergency rescue plan. Democrats voted 140 to 90 in favor, while
Republicans voted 133-65 against the plan. The Dow Jones industrial
average lost 777.68 points, its biggest single-day fall ever, easily
beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Crude oil futures closed down $10.52
in their biggest decline since Jan 17, 1991, when the US opened
strategic oil reserves during the first Gulf war.
(AP, 9/29/08)(SFC, 9/30/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/30/08,
p.C8)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.30)
2008 Sep 29, Citigroup bought the
operations of Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. for $2.2 billion in stock
and assumed $42 billion in losses on the bank’s risky $312 billion loan
portfolio, in exchange for the FDIC backstopping losses beyond that.
Citigroup agreed to give the FDIC $12 billion in preferred stock.
Wachovia shares fell 8.20 to close at $1.80. Wachovia’s new 48-story
headquarters in Charlotte, NC, was still under construction.
(AFP, 9/29/08)(SFC, 9/30/08, p.D1)(WSJ, 9/30/08,
p.C6)
2008 Sep 29, Zimbabwe's central
bank introduced 10,000- and 20,000-dollar bank notes to ease a cash
crunch in the country struggling to cope with the world's highest
inflation rate.
(AFP, 9/29/08)
2008 Oct 3, The US House of
Representatives voted 263-171 for the $700 billion economic rescue plan
and Pres. Bush quickly signed the bill. Wall Street fell 157 points to
10,325.38, its lowest close since October 2005, as more economic bad
news was made public. The $700 billion represented about 6% of American
GDP.
(AP, 10/4/08)(WSJ, 10/4/08, p.B1)(Econ, 9/27/08,
p.17)
2008 Oct 7, The US Federal Reserve
announced a radical plan to buy massive amounts of short-term debt in a
dramatic effort to break through the severe credit clog. The Fed began
lending unsecured to companies for the first time in its history.
(AP, 10/7/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.93)
2008 Oct 8, Six central banks
jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to
shore up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system.
The US Fed reduced its key rate from 2% to 1.5%. The Bank of England
unexpectedly slashed its key lending rate by a half-point to 4.5%. The
Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%.
China also cut its key interest rates for a second time in less than
one month to 6.9%. The European Central Bank sliced its rate by half a
point to 3.75%. Sweden, and Switzerland also cut rates. Earlier in a
day Japan's Nikkei showed its biggest drop since the October, 1987
stock market crash. The IMF said the world economy is entering a major
downturn.
(AP, 10/8/08)(AFP, 10/8/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.100)
2008 Oct 9, Iceland suspended
trading on its stock exchange for two days and took control of the
country's largest bank, the third to be placed under its protective
umbrella, as it grappled with a banking crisis that is threatening to
engulf the entire country.
(AP, 10/9/08)
2008 Oct 10, Leaders of the
world's leading economies confronted a financial system in shambles as
they gathered in Washington with panic selling in the stock markets,
credit frozen solid and the world teetering on recession.
(Reuters, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 10, The London stock
market plunged by almost 10.0 percent again, after fresh falls on Wall
Street, as investors continued to fret over the worldwide financial
crisis.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 10, Mexico's central bank
auctioned foreign reserves in 3 auctions in an increasingly aggressive
bid to push the peso stronger. In all, the bank sold off $6.4 billion.
(AP, 10/11/08)
2008 Oct 12, The United Arab
Emirates said it would guarantee domestic bank deposits and with Saudi
Arabia promised fresh financial support to domestic banks.
(WSJ, 10/13/08, p.A5)
2008 Oct 13, Stock markets
rejoiced after governments worldwide launched multibillion-dollar
bailouts to shore up banks, and Britain called for a new Bretton Woods
agreement to reshape the world financial system. The US Central Bank
said it would provide unlimited dollars the European Central Bank, the
Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank. Britain committed
£37 billion ($64 billion) to capitalize its big banks. Wall
Street rebounded with the biggest stock rally since the Great
Depression. The DJIA rose 936 points to close at 9,387.61, its largest
point gain ever and one of its largest percentage increases.
(Reuters, 10/13/08)(SFC, 10/14/08, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/14/08, p.A3)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.83)
2008 Oct 13, Europe put $2.3
trillion on the line to protect the continent's banks, a figure that
dwarfed the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue program.
(AP, 10/13/08)
2008 Oct 14, President Bush
announced a $250 billion plan by the government to directly buy shares
in 9 of the nation's leading banks, saying the drastic steps were "not
intended to take over the free market but to preserve it." Former
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said the US housing sector faced
more losses and the economy was in recession even as authorities moved
to stabilize the financial system.
(Reuters, 10/14/08)(AP, 10/14/08)(WSJ, 10/14/08,
p.A1)
2008 Oct 14, The US Treasury
revised the 2008 fiscal deficit to $455 billion, as opposed to the $389
billion projected in July.
(Econ, 10/18/08, p.41)
2008 Oct 14, Key lending rates
between banks in the US and Europe continued to fall slowly in response
to combined pledges from governments to inject money into banks and
guarantee their debt. But rates remained abnormally high, a sign of the
stress in the world financial system.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 16, The European Central
Bank extended emergency loans to Hungary’s central bank. The ECB said
it will lend up to $6.75 billion.
(SFC, 10/17/08, p.A5)
2008 Oct 16, Authorities in
Malaysia and Singapore said they will guarantee all foreign currency
and local currency bank deposits.
(WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A5)
2008 Oct 16, Switzerland launched
a massive recapitalization of UBS AG saying it will invest $5.3 billion
in UBS in return for a 9% stake.
(WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A3)
2008 Oct 20, The French government
allocated €10.5 billion among six of its banks.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.89)
2008 Oct 22, The DJIA tumbled
514.45 to close at 8519.21, its 7th biggest point drop in history, as
investors believed that the global economy is heading into a deep
recession. Hungary’s central bank raised interest rates by 3 points,
from 8.5% to 11.5%, to prevent a run on its currency. Argentine and
Brazilian stock markets each fell about 10%. Former Fed Chief Alan
Greenspan said he was wrong to think that financial markets could
police themselves.
(WSJ, 10/22/08, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/08, p.C1)(Econ,
10/25/08, p.33)
2008 Oct 22, The Canadian dollar
tumbled to its lowest level versus the US dollar in more than three
years as lower oil prices and a stronger greenback combined to knock
the currency below 80 US cents.
(AP, 10/22/08)
2008 Oct 22, The International
Monetary Fund moved to bail out cash-strapped Pakistan in the Fund's
first bid to shore up an Asian economy following global financial
turmoil.
(AFP, 10/22/08)
2008 Oct 23, Former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current financial crisis is a
"once-in-a-century credit tsunami" which will have a severe impact on
the US economy, driving unemployment higher. Greenspan also said he was
"shocked" at the breakdown in US credit markets and that he was
"partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities.
(AP, 10/23/08)(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, The Ukrainian
currency plunged against the dollar as people raced to exchange booths
to convert their savings into US currency. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry
said in a statement that the Russia’s desire to extend its port lease
at Sevastopol "cannot be a subject of discussion." It said that Russian
ships will have to leave Ukrainian waters in 2017.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 24, Asian and European
leaders, meeting in Beijing, called for a coordinated response to the
global financial meltdown and prepared to endorse a critical role for
the International Monetary Fund in aiding the hardest-hit countries.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 24, Iceland, where the
financial system has all but collapsed, called on the IMF for $2
billion to help fix its broken banking system, restart currency trading
and soften the blow from the global downturn.
(Reuters, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 25, In China a 2-day
economic summit closed. 43 Asian and European leaders pledged around $4
trillion to support banks and restart money markets to try to stem the
global crisis.
(Reuters, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 26, Kuwait's Central Bank
stepped to prop up one of the country's biggest banks and said it was
considering guaranteeing deposits in domestic banks, in one of the
first concrete signs that the global financial crisis may next hit the
oil-rich Gulf.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 26, Hungary reached
agreement with the IMF and the EU on a broad economic rescue package,
including substantial financing, steadying its battered currency. The
deal was expected to be finalized over the next few days.
(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 28, Icelandic PM Geir
Haarde said his country needs about $6 billion in loans to recover from
the financial meltdown, just as the country's central bank separately
hiked its interest rates by a massive 6 percentage points.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Oct 29, The US Federal
Reserve cut the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge each
other on overnight loans, by half a percentage point, and the
government finally began distributing funds from the billions in the
financial rescue package.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Oct 29, Officials said that
EU governments promised to lend Hungary 6.5 billion euros ($8.1
billion) as part of a 20 billion euro ($25 billion) international
rescue package to help it weather a financial crisis that has sharply
devalued its currency.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 30, The US government
reported that the economy shrank in the summer, the strongest signal
yet that a recession may have already begun. The Commerce Department
reported that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of
economic health, fell at an annual rate of 0.3% in the July-September
period, a significant slowdown after growth of 2.8% in the prior
quarter.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Nov 5, Germany’s cabinet
approved measures to boost the economy that will cost around €23
billion ($29.9) over the next 4 years.
(WSJ, 11/6/08, p.A15)
2008 Nov 5, Zimbabwe issued three
new denominations of banknotes, including a one-million-dollar note, as
the impoverished country struggles to cope with runaway inflation.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 6, The European Central
Bank cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 3.25% and
the Bank of England made an even more aggressive reduction of 1.5% in
an effort to ease the financial crisis and boost their flagging
economies.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 6, Authorities said
Hungary is preparing a financial aid package worth up to 600 billion
forints ($3 billion, 2.3 billion euros) to boost domestic banks'
capital and help them refinance debts.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 12, US prosecutors
charged Raoul Weil, a senior executive of Swiss bank UBS AG, of helping
some 20,000 rich clients evade federal income taxes on assets of some
$20 billion from 2002-2007.
(WSJ, 11/13/08, p.A1)
2008 Nov 12, The Canadian
government announced a series of steps to improve the
availability of long-term credit including the purchase of C$50 billion
($40 billion) more in insured mortgages from banks.
(Reuters, 11/12/08)
2008 Nov 19, The IMF approved a
two-year, $2.1 billion support program for Iceland designed to restore
confidence and stabilize the country's shattered economy.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Finland's Finance
Ministry said four Nordic countries will lend Iceland $2.5 billion
(euro1.98 billion) to help the country recover from its economic
meltdown.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Switzerland’s central
bank cut its benchmark interest by a full percentage point, the latest
in a global round of aggressive rate cuts amid stuttering economic
growth.
(WSJ, 11/21/08, p.A16)
2008 Nov 24, Pakistan, the
front-line country in the battle against Islamist terrorism, won final
approval for a $7.6 billion loan from the IMF to help stave off a
possible economic meltdown.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 25, The US Federal
Reserve said it will buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed assets
in another attempt to deal with the financial crisis.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Dec 4, Sweden’s central bank
cuts its benchmark interest rate from 3.75% to 2% saying monetary
policy was less effective than usual.
(Econ, 12/6/08, p.92)
2008 Dec 6, Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe came under fresh international pressure over his
country's economic collapse as his government announced plans to
introduce a 200 million dollar bill.
(AFP, 12/6/08)
2008 Dec 9, The US Treasury said
it had sold $30 billion in four-week bills at an interest rate of zero
percent, for the first time since the notes began issuing in 2001.
(SFC, 12/10/08, p.C4)
2008 Dec 10, Israel agreed to
allow the delivery of cash to banks in the Gaza Strip to ease a cash
crunch that has badly hobbled the economy of the blockaded Palestinian
territory.
(AP, 12/10/08)
2008 Dec 12, Ecuador’s Pres.
Rafael Correa said his nation will skip a $30.6 million payment to
bondholders due on Dec 15.
(WSJ, 12/12/08, p.A8)
2008 Dec 12, Zimbabwe's central
bank introduced a 500 million dollar note, as the African country
struggles to cope with the world's highest inflation and crippling
currency shortages.
(AP, 12/12/08)
2008 Dec 16, The US Federal
Reserve announced that it was reducing its target for the federal funds
rate to between zero and 0.25 percent, down from 1 percent, a level
that was already the lowest target rate in a half century.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, The Russian ruble
suffered its largest drop in three months after the Central Bank
signaled it would accelerate the devaluation of the national currency.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 22, The ruble dropped
further as the Central Bank again eased its support of the Russian
currency, under constant pressure from plunging oil prices and economic
woes.
(AP, 12/22/08)
2008 Dec 31, US mortgage lender
Freddie Mac said interest rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
dropped to an average of 5.10% for the week ending this day, down from
the previous week's 5.14%.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2008 Margaret Atwood authored
:Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.”
(Econ, 10/18/08, p.96)
2008 Felix Dennis, English high
school dropout and publishing magnate, authored “How to Get Rich: One
of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets.”
(WSJ, 6/11/08, p.A21)
2008 Niall Ferguson authored “The
Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World.”
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.113)
2008 David M. Smick authored “The
World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy.”
(WSJ, 9/19/08, p.A21)
2008 The British Royal Mint
produced at least 100,000 20-pence coins with no date. The error was
acknowledged in June, 2009. The last time a similar error occurred was
in 1672.
(SFC, 6/30/09, p.A2)
2009 Jan 8, Kuwait’s top
investment bank, Global Investment House, said it had defaulted on most
of its $3 billion in debt, raising concerns that other Arab Gulf
financial firms may follow as the global financial crises spreads
through the region.
(WSJ, 1/9/09, p.C2)
2009 Jan 15, The US dollar
strengthened against the ruble to a record 32.40 rubles, well above the
high set in 2003. The depreciation was expected to continue.
(WSJ, 1/16/09, p.C8)
2009 Jan 22, Russia's Central Bank
said it will widen the ruble's trading range to allow an effective 10
percent devaluation of the national currency.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Feb 2, Zimbabwe's central
bank revalued its dollar again, lopping another 12 zeros off its
battered currency to try to tame hyperinflation and avert total
economic collapse.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 3, The Bank of England
said high-street banks had borrowed 185 billion pounds since April to
help to free up the home-lending market.
(AFP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 12, The first of four new
pennies chronicling Abraham Lincoln's rise from a small Kentucky cabin
went into circulation to honor the 16th president's 200th birthday.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 27, The US government
said it will exchange up to $25 billion in emergency bailout money it
provided Citigroup Inc. for as much as a 36% equity stake in the
struggling bank. The deal is contingent on private investors also
agreeing to a similar swap.
(AP, 2/27/09)
2009 Feb 27, Leading international
financial institutions said Eastern Europe's struggling banks will
receive euro24.5 billion ($31.1 billion) worth of emergency help to
shore up their battered finances. Regional leaders were scheduled to
meet this weekend. The Hungarian, Polish and Czech currencies
strengthened on the news of the aid package.
(AP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 3, Canadian banks cut
their prime lending rates after the Bank of Canada, the country's
central bank, cut its key interest rate by a half-point to a record low
of 0.5 percent.
(Reuters, 3/3/09)
2009 Mar 5, The Bank of England
cut interest rates by 50 basis points to a record low of 0.5%, and said
it would pump 75 billion pounds of new money into buying assets in its
battle with recession.
(Reuters, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 5, The European Central
Bank cut its main interest rate by a half percentage point to 1.5
percent, dropping the cost of borrowing in the 16 countries that use
the euro to a new record low amid grim economic news.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 23, Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan,
Chinese central bank governor, called for a new global currency
controlled by the International Monetary Fund, stepping up pressure
ahead of a London summit of global leaders for changes to a financial
system dominated by the US dollar and Western governments.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 31, In Qatar Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez sought Arab support for a proposed oil-backed
currency to challenge the US dollar in his latest swipe at Washington's
dominance in global financial affairs.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 2, The director of the US
Mint unveiled the first US coin with an inscription in Spanish, a
quarter honoring Puerto Rico as the "Isla del Encanto" (Island of
Enchantment).
(AP, 4/2/09)
2009 May 15, Nicaraguans awoke to
find that the Central Bank, moving in the night as stealthily as the
Tooth Fairy, had snuck a new legal tender into their economy while the
markets were sound asleep.
(www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900518,00.html?xid=rss-world-cnn)
2009 Jun 7, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar
and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement paving the way for a monetary
union and plans for a unified regional currency.
(SFC, 6/8/09, p.C1)
2009 Jun 16, The $13 billion
takeover of Barclays Global Investors by BlackRock was finalized. This
created the world’s largest asset manager.
(Econ, 6/20/09, p.73)
2009 Jun 17, The Obama
administration proposed a sweeping overhaul of the financial system. An
88-page wish list of changes released by the Treasury Dept. would
require the approval of Congress and included broad new powers for the
Federal Reserve to supervise institutions considered to big to fail. It
included a proposal for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection
Agency (CFPA).
(SFC, 6/18/09, p.A1)(Econ, 6/20/09, p.77)
2009 Jul 1, The Financial Times
reported that Citigroup Inc increased interest rates on up to 15
million US credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises
come into effect.
(AP, 7/1/09)
2009 Liaquat Ahamed authored
“Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World.”
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.73)
2018 In 2004 it was expected that
payments in this year would begin to exceed revenues in the US
retirement system.
(SSFC, 11/28/04, p.A3)
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Subject = Money, Big Money
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