Timeline of Money
Return to home
Chronology: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono17.html
Coin Collecting: http://rare-coin-collecting-guide.info/
US Treasury History: http://www.ustreas.gov/education/history/events/1900-present.shtml#8
3000BC
Banking developed in Mesopotamia about this time.
(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
640BC The 1st coins were
minted in Lydia (later part of Turkey) about this time, and
featured face to face heads of a bull and lion.
(SSFC, 12/3/00, WB p.2)(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
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)
697 The first Arab Islamic
currency was struck in Damascus by the Umayyad ruler Abd
al-Malik ibn Marwan (697-698 A.D.)
(http://tinyurl.com/6c6dlco)
794 Charlemagne created a
single currency for his empire.
(Econ, 6/18/11, p.30)
800-1000 At the beginning of the ninth
century, Arabian merchants frequented Lithuania to purchase fine
furs, beeswax and precious amber. Brisk trading between Arabians
and Lithuanians went on for about two hundred years.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
1012 The Arabian trade with
Europe abruptly ceased and no more Cufic coins streamed into
Europe.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
1023 In China a government
agency was formed to print paper money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1024 In China the first
state-backed paper money was introduced.
(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
1311 Oct 16, The general
Council of Vienne opened just south of Lyons. During the 2-year
council Pope Clement V made the belief in the right to usury
heresy and abolished all secular legislation which allowed it.
(Econ, 1/7/12,
p.60)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vix_Pervenit)
1228 A record in the
Livonian Statute of A.D. 1228 stated that the death penalty will
be imposed on those attempting to debase silver by adding to it
even 1/16 part of other base metals. This is the reason why
silver bar kapas / roubles, whenever found in Baltic States, are
always nearly pure.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
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)
1399 Russian chronicles
state that when Kiev was threatened by the Tartars, Kiev
citizens had to pay to Khan Timur Kutluk a contribution of 3000
Lithuanian roubles.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
1410 Russian chronicles say
that Novgorod adopted Lithuanian money as legal tender, and the
use of marten skins as money was discontinued.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
1519 Prussia experienced a
monetary crises.
(ON, 2/11, p.6)
1542 Britain’s 1st
bankruptcy laws were crafted under Henry VIII.
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.53)
1602 Mar 20, The Dutch East
India Company was chartered to carry on trade in the East
Indies. The company traded to 1798 whereupon its possessions
were dissolved into the Dutch empire. In 2010 a student found a
share in the company issued to an official named Pieter Harmenz
dating to Sep 9, 1606. As a result, continuous trade in company
stock emerged on the Amsterdam Exchange.
(SFC, 9/10/10,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market)(Econ, 2/25/12,
SRp.4)
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)
1654 The earliest circular
coin bearing the inscription "rouble" on it in Russia was struck
by Czar Alexiei Mikhailovitch.
(VilNews, 12/17/10)
1659 In Britain a check was
written and made out for 400 pounds (equivalent to around 42,000
pounds in 2009). It was signed by Nicholas Vanacker, made
payable to a Mr Delboe and drawn on Messrs Morris and Clayton,
scriveners and bankers of the City of London. As of 2009 it was
the oldest surviving British check.
(AP, 12/16/09)
1659 Mar 22, The Warsaw
parliament decided to issue metal currency, shillings, for
Lithuania and Poland.
(LHC, 3/22/03)
1661 Sweden became the
first European country to introduce bank notes.
(AP, 3/17/12)
1667 The first insurance
company was formed in London.
(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
1668 The first central bank
was founded in Sweden.
(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
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.
The mission of the bank was to provided war finance. Financiers
agreed to lend the crown £1.2 million in return for a
partial monopoly on the issue of currency.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C2)(AP, 7/27/97)(Econ,
1/10/09, p.49)(Econ, 11/5/11, p.92)
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)
1774 A Dutch merchant
cobbled together the earliest mutual-style fund, Eendragt Maakt
Magt (Unity creates Strength). The first modern mutual fund was
launched in Boston in 1924.
(Econ, 4/21/07, p.83)
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)
1787 Ephraim Brasher, a
goldsmith living in the Cherry Hill district of NYC, began
minting gold doubloons, valued at $15, as currency for the new
United States. In 1947 the film The Brasher Doubloon” was made
based on a detective by novel Raymond Chandler. In 2011 a
Brasher doubloon was sold for $7.4 million.
(SFC, 12/15/11, p.A1)
1788 Jul 19, Prices plunged
on the Paris stock market.
(HN, 7/19/98)
1789 Feb 4, Electors
unanimously chose George Washington to be the first
president of the United States and John Adams as vice-president.
The results of the balloting were not counted in the US Senate
until two months later. Washington accepted office at the
Federal Building of New York. His first cabinet included Thomas
Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton as first secretary of the
Treasury, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph.
(A & IP, ESM, p.10)(WSJ, 3/12/97,
p.A18)(AP, 2/4/07)
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 Congress
passed Alexander Hamilton’s Assumption plan making it
responsible for state debts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Report_on_the_Public_Credit)
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 one cent coins were minted. For almost 6 decades the obverse
side carried an image of Lady Liberty. The first coins were
related to the silver dollar. The half-dollar contained half as
much silver, the quarter had one-fourth as much. The dime had a
10th and the half dime has a 20th as much silver as the dollar.
Only the penny was made of copper. In 1866 the Mint decided to
produce a larger five-cent coin. In 2012 a one-cent copper coin
minted this year fetched $1 million at a Florida auction.
(SFC, 9/11/96, p.A4)(WSJ, 12/12/03,
p.W15)(SSFC, 9/27/09, Par p.25)(AP, 1/8/12)
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)
1797 The Bank of England
suspended the convertibility of its notes to gold in order to
better finance Britain’s war with France. This continued to
1821.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.92)
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)
1825 The Bank of England
began lending money aggressively and continued to 1826 to help
stabilize a financial crisis, despite lacking the legal
authority to do so.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.92)
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)
1833 The first clearing
house to exchange checks was built in London, England. Prior to
this checks were exchanged informally in coffee houses.
(AP, 12/16/09)
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)
1839 The Republic of Texas
issued the so-called Texas "redbacks." It printed over two
million dollars in redbacks, which were initially worth about 37
cents to a US dollar. By 1842, the redbacks had become virtually
worthless and had lost the power of legal tender. Once again
Texans used bank notes from other states and shinplasters
instead of the Texas money.
(www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/republic/currency-01.html)
1840 A US no-bail-out
policy forced some state into default. Several US states had
loaded up on unsustainable debt following an extended period of
easy credit. These states consequently found payments on their
existing bonds increasingly unaffordable. Between 1841 and 1843
Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Mississippi, Pennsylvania and one territory – a proto-state
called Florida – defaulted.
(Econ, 2/11/12,
p.57)(http://tinyurl.com/6pgf4wq)
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 Feb 25, The Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) was created as a bureau of
the US Department of the Treasury by the National Currency Act.
The OCC was charged with responsibility for organizing and
administering a system of nationally chartered banks and a
uniform national currency. It 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." The 1863 NCA was superseded by the National Bank
Act of 1864.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bank_Act)(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)(www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx)
1864 The National Bank Act
of this year superseded the National Currency Act of 1863.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bank_Act)
1865 Dec 23, France,
Belgium, Italy and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union
(LMU). It was a 19th century attempt to unify several European
currencies into a single currency that could be used in all the
member states, at a time when most national currencies were
still made out of gold and silver. Spain and Greece joined in
1868. It quickly weakened as members pursued their own economic
policies. It was disbanded in 1927.
(WSJ, 1/13/98,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Monetary_Union)
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. Foreign &
Colonial was established to invest in foreign bonds.
(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.R6)(Econ, 3/17/12, p.85)
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)
1870 The US surpassed
Britain about this time as the world’s largest economic power,
but it was not until about 1925 that the dollar overtook
sterling in international importance.
(Econ, 1/22/11, p.98)
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)
1898 Charles Fey built the
3-reeled Card Bell, the first machine to dispense coins as
prizes.
(Econ, 7/10/10, SR p.10)
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 (Owen-Glass Act) was signed by Pres. Wilson. It
established the decentralized, government-controlled banking
system in the US 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
goal was to strive for maximum employment and price stability.
The act guarded against inflation but allowed deflation. It was
the first thorough reorganization of the national banking system
since the Civil War. A compromise split monetary policy between
politically appointed governors in Washington, DC, and the
presidents of 12 regional banks, with boards appointed in part
by private bankers.
(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A14)(HNQ, 10/16/99)(SSFC,
11/28/04, p.D1)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.37)
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)
1919 Estonia established
the kroon as its currency. It continued until Soviet occupation
in 1940 and was restored following independence in 1992.
(Econ, 1/1/11, p.44)
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)
1924-1930 Germany sold bond in the US during
this period. The Dawes bonds raised $110 million and the Young
bonds raised over 98 million. Hitler later defaulted on the
bonds and ordered that none be repaid. Germany began buying them
for pennies on the dollar before the start of WWII and
stashed thousands in bank vaults and resold others. In 2010 a
half dozen US bondholders filed suit to force Germany to make
good on the debts.
(SFC, 9/7/10, p.D6)
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)
1931 In Austria a run on
Credit Anstalt bank set off a chain of events that took Britain
off the gold standard and raised fears that America might
follow. Its failure rippled around the world and intensified the
Depression.
(Econ, 10/04/08, p.83)(Econ, 9/12/09, p.86)
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 5, Franklin D.
Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday in order to stop large
amounts of money from being withdrawn from the banks.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1933 Mar 6, A nationwide
bank holiday declared by President Roosevelt went into effect.
Overseas deposits shrank by just 2% as a result of the closure.
(AP, 3/6/98)(Econ, 5/15/10, SR p.13)
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)
1942 The US Federal Reserve
agreed, at the Treasury’s request, to hold Treasury notes to
2.5% or below. This continued to 1951.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.92)
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)
1946 Georges Doriot
(1899-1987), a French-born Harvard professor, took public his
Boston-based American Research & Development Corporation,
America’s first venture fund. In 1972 ARD was taken over
by Textron. In 2008 Spencer E. Ante authored “Creative Capital:
Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital.”
(WSJ, 5/21/08, p.A17)(Econ, 3/14/09, SR p.9)
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)
1949 Alfred Winslow Jones
founded the first investment fund (hedge fund) that sold short
some stocks while buying others, thus hedging some of the market
risk. His intent was to guard against a stock market slump.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund)(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.R22)
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)
1951 Mar 4, The US Treasury
and Federal Reserve announced an accord. The agreement restored
independence to the Federal Reserve. In 2001 Martin Mayer
authored "The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World’s Most
Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets."
(WS, 6/27/01,
p.A14)(http://tinyurl.com/2exjk8f)
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 1, Chase National
(the 3rd largest US bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company
(15th largest bank) merged and were renamed as Chase Manhattan.
(http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/histh.txt)
1955 Apr 22, Congress
ordered all U.S. coins to bear motto "In God We Trust".
(HN, 4/22/98)
1955 May, The first
leveraged buy-out deal took place. The first LBO may have been
the purchase by McLean Industries, Inc. of Waterman Steamship
Corporation.
(Econ, 2/25/12,
SRp.5)(www.associatepublisher.com/e/l/le/leveraged_buyout.htm)
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)
1956 The US Fair Isaac
Corp. was founded. FICO scores became a standard measure to
determine the creditworthiness of American consumers.
(SFC, 1/23/12, p.D1)
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)
1965 Eugene Fama (b.1939),
American economist, first proposed his efficient market
hypothesis at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
as an academic concept of study through his published Ph.D.
thesis.
(Econ, 8/8/09,
p.67)(www.e-m-h.org/history.html)
1966 The American
government extended the 1933 Regulation Q. Ceiling rates
effectively constrained the rates paid by commercial banks and
thrifts on at least some categories of their deposit
liabilities. It encouraged investors to hold a lot of their
dollars offshore.
(http://tinyurl.com/dm5vh4)(Econ, 12/19/09,
p.125)
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 Feb, The US Department
of Housing and Urban Development created the first transaction
using a mortgage-backed security. The Government National
Mortgage Association (GNMA or Ginnie Mae) sold securities backed
by a portfolio of mortgage loans.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitization)
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 The over-the-counter
stock market exchange was transformed into the NASDAQ, or
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation
market. It is an electronic network of some 500 dealers who
trade a list of about 4,800 stocks.
(Hem, 8/95, p.78)
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 13, Britain
requested to exchange US dollars for gold. This prompted Pres.
Nixon on August 15 to suspend such conversions.
(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
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 became known as the “Nixon
Shock” and 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.
(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)(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
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)
1971 Freddie Mac, a US
government mortgage agency, began tracking mortgage rates.
(WSJ, 7/2/10, p.A1)
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)
1976 Te Development
Bank of Central African States (BDEAC) was established and
included six members of the Economic and Monetary Community of
Central Africa: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad,
Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
(AP, 9/23/09)
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 Jan 1, The US Federal
Hourly Minimum Wage was set at $2.90 an hour.
(http://tinyurl.com/2udkrd)
1979 Mar 13, European
Monetary System (EMS) entered into force.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1979 Apr 26, The US
Treasury failed to redeem $122 million of Treasury bills on
time. The Treasury was also late in redeeming T-bills which
become due on May 3 and May 10, 1979.
(http://tinyurl.com/4ylmaz5)(Econ, 6/25/11,
p.83)
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)
1983 Feb 18, The Venezuelan
bolivar suffered a serious devaluation. Pres. Luis Herrera
initiated a round of currency devaluations. The Herrera
government was forced to devalue the currency, which at 4.3
bolivars to the US dollar had been underwriting a lifestyle the
country could no longer afford. By 2000 the bolivar lost 16,185%
to the dollar.
(www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/nov/13/guardianobituaries.venezuela)(WSJ,
1/05/00, p.A11)
1983 Oct, Hong Kong pegged
its currency to the US dollar. Hong Kong adopted a currency
board. The board is a type fixed exchange rate system that
requires currency in circulation to be fully matched by the
country’s foreign exchange reserves. The Hong Kong dollar was
pegged at 7.8 to the US dollar.
(SFC, 2/16/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 8/10/98,
p.A10)(Econ, 6/30/07, SR p.10)
1983 Dec 12, Australia’s
labor government under Bob Hawke allowed its dollar to float.
(http://intl.econ.cuhk.edu.hk/exchange_rate_regime/index.php?cid=28)(Econ,
5/28/11, SR p.3)
1983 In Bangladesh Muhammad
Yunus opened the Grameen Bank, dedicated to provided small loans
to rural villagers. The bank was very successful and was copied
as a model for similar programs in the US and elsewhere.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, Par p.4)
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 22, In NYC
ministers of America, Japan, West Germany, France and Britain
(the Group of Five, G-5) 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.
(www.g7.utoronto.ca/finance/fm850922.htm)(WSJ, 3/8/04,
p.A2)(Econ, 10/9/04, p.72)
1986 Jan 3, The British
Banker’s Association started publishing the London inter-bank
offered rates (LIBOR), a measure of interest rates banks
pay when they borrow from one another. The rate is subjective by
design and not a statistical measure.
(http://mortgage-x.com/general/indexes/wsj_libor_history.asp?y=1986)(Econ,
3/10/12, p.84)
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)
1986 Oct 30, US Treasury
Sec. James Baker struck the first American Eagle silver coin at
the US Mint’s San Francisco Assay office. The coins went on sale
on Nov 24. Silver at this time was selling for $5.58 an ounce.
(SSFC, 10/30/11, DB p.42)
1986 Brazil chopped 3
zeroes off its currency in the Cruzado Plan as part of an
attempt to reduce inflation. The official name was the Economic
Stabilization Plan but it was popularly known as the Cruzado
Plan because it involved a change in the name of the currency
from Cruciero to the Cruzado, with 1000 crucieros being equal to
one cruzado. Its main measures were a general price
freeze, a wage readjustment and freeze, readjustment and freeze
on rents and mortgage payments, a ban on indexation, and a
freeze on the exchange rate.
(Econ, 11/14/09, SR
p.5)(www.applet-magic.com/cruzado.htm)
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 Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) came into existence on the initiative of the
G7. The inter-governmental body’s purpose was the development
and promotion of policies, both at national and international
levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Action_Task_Force_on_Money_Laundering)
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 Apr 1, Argentina
maintained a currency board regime this day through January 6,
2002, under which the Argentine peso was pegged one for one to
the U.S. dollar.
(http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2002/el2002-25.html)
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)
1991-1998 James Johnson served as CEO of
Fannie Mae. During this period he lobbied Congress, eviscerated
regulators and courted mortgage lenders to increase home
ownership feathering his and fellow executive nests along the
way.
(Econ, 10/15/11,
p.99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Johnson_%28businessman%29)
1992 Mar, The Hearst Corp.
and Dow Jones launched SmartMoney, The Wall Street Journal
Magazine of Personal Business. Hearst and MediaOne started New
England Cable News. In 2010 News Corp., the owner of Dow Jones,
announced that it was buying out Hearst’s 50% stake.
(SFC, 8/7/99,
p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/382usyx)
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), a pre-euro system of semi-pegged
currencies.
(http://tinyurl.com/eh943)(Econ, 7/16/11,
p.79)
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)
1992 Barry Eichengreen,
int’l. monetary historian, authored “Golden Fetters: The Gold
Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939.”
(Econ, 1/22/11, p.98)
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 Jun, The idea of a
credit default swap (CDS), a financial swap agreement that the
seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a
loan default or other credit event came out of a JP Morgan
meeting off-site in Boca Raton. The first credit-default swap
transaction took place when the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development contracted for a modest sum to assume the risk
that Exxon (XOM) wouldn’t repay a $4.8 billion line of credit it
had borrowed from Morgan in order to pay the fine for its 1989
Exxon Valdez oil spill.
{Banking, Money, USA, Oil}
(http://tinyurl.com/8447k8f)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap)(Econ,
2/25/12, SRp.5)
1994 Jul 1, Brazil under
finance minister Henrique Cardoso adopted the Real Plan, named
for a new currency fixed to the US dollar with a "crawling peg."
(WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-15)(WSJ, 6/12/97, p.A19)
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 established a
unified official exchange rate and 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)(Econ, 9/25/10, p.87)
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 Aug 1, In Somalia
Mohamed Farrah Aidid died from wounds in a gun battle with a
faction headed by his brother. General Muhammad Aideed (Mohamed
Aidid) had employed a printing press to reproduce the country’s
1,000 shillings note. The value of the note fell from $.13 to
$.03, or about the cost of producing an additional note. Forging
stopped as the profit margin disappeared.
(www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/02/aideed/)(Econ,
4/21/12, p.22)
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 Jul 1, Thailand let
its currency, the baht, float and it devalued about 20%. This
event marked the beginning of the Asian economic crises. In 1999
Thailand sought to extradite Rakesh Saxena, a currency trader,
from Canada for his role in an alleged fraud that drained over
$2 billion from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which led to the
devaluation of the baht. Pin Chakkaphak was blamed for the
collapse of the currency and fled Asia. He was ordered back from
Britain in 2001 to face accounting and theft charges. In 2009
Saxena (57) arrived in Thailand after his extradition from
Canada to face charges he embezzled $88 million from the Bangkok
Bank of Commerce, which collapsed in 1995.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.D4)(WSJ, 7/21/97, p.A1)(SFEC,
5/31/98, p.D1)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 3/9/01, p.A16)(Econ,
3/25/06, p.80)(AP, 10/30/09)
1997 "The History of Money"
by Jack Weatherford was published.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.5)
1997 Eritrea introduced its
own currency, the nakfa, and sought to make it directly
exchangeable with the Ethiopian burr in cross-border
transaction. The currency was named after the site of a major
victory over Ethiopian forces in March, 1988.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)(SSFC, 4/15/12, p.P3)
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 Aug 17, Russia
devalued its ruble and allowed the ruble's value to drop by up
to 34 percent. It also imposed delays in the repayment of
billions of dollars in debt. The government defaulted on $40
million in debt and provoked a stampede of capital from emerging
markets. In 2010 Martin Gilman authored “No Precedent, No Plan:
Inside Russia’s 1998 Default.”
(WSJ, 8/18/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/99)(WSJ,
10/4/00, p.A10)(Econ, 11/27/10, p.95)
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 6, The Chiang Mai
Initiative (CMI) was set up to help East Asian cash strapped
countries defend their currencies in times of trouble. The
initiative came in response to the 1997 East Asian financial
crises. ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea launched the
multilateral arrangement of currency swaps (CMI).
(WSJ, 5/5/05,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_Initiative)
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 1, Greece became
the 12th country to join the euro. Greece’s public debt at this
time was more than 100% of GDP.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.75)(www.oanda.com/help/euro)
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 Feb 22, A financial
crises in Turkey forced the government to let the lira float and
it dropped 40% to 960,000 to the US dollar. By the end of the
year the economy sank 9.4%.
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.D4)(WSJ, 2/23/01,
p.A11)(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A14)
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 Richard Duncan
authored “The Dollar Crises.”
(Econ, 1/16/10, p.73)
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 Jamie King, a robotics
doctoral student at Memorial Univ. in Newfoundland, co-founded
Verafin to sift bank data for patterns that could indicate
fraud, drug trafficking or terrorist financing. By 2011 over 700
banks used the service.
(SFC, 6/27/11, p.D2)
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 A US government found
that some $700 million from Equatorial Guinea was held at
Washington's Riggs Bank, making the country the bank's biggest
customer. Riggs was fined millions of dollars in
money-laundering fines. Nothing was done against Equatorial
Guinea’s Pres. Obiang. Human rights groups have accused Obiang
of using the oil wealth to make his family fabulously rich while
most of his countrymen live in squalor.
(AP, 11/3/09)
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 1, The New (yeni)
Turkish Lira (YTL), will begin circulating, wiping out six
zeroes from the current money. The old lira will keep
circulating until Dec 31.
(AP, 9/23/04)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.67)(SSFC,
12/5/04, p.F2)
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)
2005 Tim Parks, British
novelist, authored “Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art
in Fifteenth-Century Florence.”
(Econ, 12/17/11, p.148)
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.” George
Washington appeared on the first coin.
(AP, 2/15/07)(SFC, 3/8/07, p.A2)(AH, 4/07,
p.10)
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)
2007 Robert Frank authored
“Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the
Lives of the New Rich,” a look at the differences between the
new generation of super wealthy and the merely rich.
(Econ, 10/15/11, p.97)
2007 Safaricom, Kenya’s
largest mobile phone operator, launched M-PESA, a mobile-money
scheme. It allowed people to pay bills and even save money,
though without interest.
(Econ, 9/26/09, SR p.17)
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 Jan, Grameen Bank, a
Bangladesh-based microfinance institution, opened its first
American branch. As of September, 2011, it had lent over 25
million to some 7,300 borrowers.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.42)
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 Jul 17, It was
reported that the US debt amounted to $455,000 per household. By
September the national debt reached $10 trillion and obliged the
national debt clock in New York’s Times Square to move its
dollar sign to make room.
(SFC, 7/17/08, p.A10)(Econ, 10/9/10, SR p.6)
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 Dec, In Chile engraver
Pedro Urzua Lizana unknowingly left off the bottom part of the
letter "l" while hurriedly fixing a minor deformity in the
original mold for making dies to stamp out Chilean 50-peso
pieces for 2009. The coins were released to the public, but no
one at the mint, including himself, knew about the error until a
coin collector called in October to point it out. Urzua was
fired in December, 2009.
(AP, 2/12/10)
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 May 22, President
Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and
Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, marking a turning point for
American consumers and ending the days of unfair rate hikes and
hidden fees. The new rules went into effect on Feb 22, 2010.
(http://tinyurl.com/qbhe4g)(SFC, 2/23/10,
p.D2)
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 Jul 17, Mexico's
central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter
percentage point, dropping the interbank rate to 4.5% to
stimulate a recession-dogged economy.
(AP, 7/18/09)
2009 Jul 24, A US federal
minimum wage increase took effect. Some economists said it could
prolong the recession by forcing small businesses to lay off the
same workers that the pay hike passed in better times was meant
to help. The increase to $7.25 meant 70 cents more an hour for
the lowest-paid workers in the 30 states that have lower
minimums or no minimum wage.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 16, It was
reported that Peru has become the world’s largest “factory” of
counterfeit US dollars. Police were said to seize some $10
million in false dollars each month in Lima alone. The Peruvian
dollars were mostly found in such countries as Italy, France,
Germany and Ecuador. Gunmen robbed 12 foreigners on an
ecological tourism trip to the Manu nature reserve in the Tres
Cruces area of the Cusco region.
(SSFC, 8/16/09, p.A4)(AP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 25, The US White
House forecast a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion, more
than the sum of all previous deficits since America’s founding.
(SFC, 8/26/09, p.A6)
2009 Sep 2, In Chile Judge
Manuel Valderrama said the accounts of General Pinochet and his
family reached a value of $25,978,602.79 shortly before his
death in December 2006. The investigating judge said that more
than $20 million of the funds have no justifiable origin.
(AP, 9/2/09)
2009 Sep 30, The US fiscal
year ended with a budget deficit at a record $1.4 trillion.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 6, Australia's
central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by a quarter
point, becoming the first major economy to increase the cost of
borrowing amid signs its recovery from the global slump is
gaining momentum.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 16, US federal
prosecutors unveiled a broad criminal case against billionaire
hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, head of Galleon Partners in
Manhattan, and 5 others accused of netting over $20 million by
trading based on insider information. Investigators had used
wiretaps to gain evidence.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 2, The
International Monetary Fund said it has sold 200 metric tons of
gold worth $6.7 billion to India's central bank as part of an
effort to shore up IMF finances and increase low-cost lending to
developing countries.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Britain pressed
ahead with a fresh wave of restructuring in its crisis-ravaged
banking system, as Lloyds Banking Group PLC sought at least 21
billion pounds ($34.2 billion) through a record share issue and
debt swap. World stock markets mostly fell amid renewed concerns
about the banking sector after Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland
PLC got more government help and Switzerland's UBS AG booked
another massive charge.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 10, Colombian
authorities said they have seized $19 million in forged US
currency so far this year, five times the amount confiscated
last year. A statement from the Presidency's press office said
16 people have been arrested in Colombia and the US in
connection with the seizures and seven illegal counterfeiting
print shops have been dismantled.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iran's central
bank chief said that the country has gained five billion dollars
by replacing the US dollar with the euro in its currency basket.
Iran’s conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported that the moral
police have arrested a dozen couples for engaging in illicit
sexual acts, including swapping of partners.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 25, The Canadian
dollar rose to a one-week high against the US dollar after the
Russian central bank said it was preparing to invest some of its
foreign exchange reserves in the Canadian currency.
(Reuters, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 30, North Korea
began exchanging old notes following a 100 to 1 revaluation of
its currency. Many shops were reported closed with citizens
angry and panicked. The redenomination of the won led to a
collapse of the currency, a surge in the price of rice and wiped
out much traders’ working capital.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A6)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.43)
2009 Dec 15, In Kuwait Gulf
Arab nations put into force a monetary pact, moving a step
closer toward the elusive goal of a single regional currency and
greater integration between the mainly oil-rich states. The
announcement was made by Kuwait's finance minister came as
leaders from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council nations
were wrapping up a two-day summit in which they launched a
regional electricity project. The GCC groups Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain.
(AP, 12/15/09)
2009 Dec 16, The British
board of the UK Payments Council, the body for setting payment
strategy in Britain, agreed to set a target date of October 31,
2018 for winding up the check clearing system.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 18, Zimbabwe, for
years plagued by hyper inflation, presented official data
showing it has switched narrowly into an absolute price fall on
a monthly basis, following adoption of foreign currencies.
(AFP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 24, In Iran local
media reported that the central bank has warned people not to
write on banknotes and sought to collect defaced ones after the
appearance of opposition slogans on many.
(AFP, 12/24/09)
2009 Liaquat Ahamed
authored “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World.”
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.73)
2009 Eric Lonergan, English
hedge fund manager, authored “Money (Art of Living).”
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.98)
2009 Bitcoin, the “world’s
first decentralized digital currency” was devised by programmer
Satoshi Nakomoto (thought not to be the person’s real name). It
was run by a peer-to-per network.
(Econ, 6/18/11, p.83)
2009 The Turkish lira
replaced the New Turkish lira, in use since 2005. The exchange
of New Turkish lira for Turkish lira would continue at the
Central Bank thru 2019.
(SSFC, 3/27/11, p.M3)
2010 Jan 1, In Germany a
problem a technical problem left card holders
unable to use cash machines. It was caused by microchips in
about a quarter of all cards in circulation being unable to cope
with the changeover to 2010. On Jan 8 retailers announced that
the problem was mostly corrected.
(AFP, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 7, The so-called
Liberty Head nickel, a rare 1913 US coin once owned by an
Egyptian king and later featured in a famous US TV detective
series, was sold for more than $3.7 million (2.3 million pounds)
in a public auction in Florida.
(Reuters, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 8, Venezuela’s
Pres. Chavez issued a presidential decree devaluing the currency
by up to 50%. Finance minister Ali Rodriguez admitted that this
would boost the inflation rate, 27% last year, by 3-5 percentage
points.
(Econ, 1/16/10, p.39)
2010 Jan 14, Pres. Obama
proposed that as many as 50 financial firms with assets greater
than $50 billion each be hit by a levy to help recoup taxpayer
bailout money and trim the federal budget deficit. The
“Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee” was proposed to cover
taxpayer losses of $117 billion on the Troubled Asset Relief
Program (TARP).
(AP, 1/14/10)(SFC, 1/15/10, p.D1)(Econ,
1/16/10, p.73)
2010 Jan 25, The National
Bank of Hungary cut its main interest rate by a quarter
percentage point to 6 percent, its lowest since September 2005.
(AP, 1/25/10)
2010 Feb 1, President
Barack Obama unveiled a multitrillion-dollar spending plan,
pledging an intensified effort to combat high unemployment and
asking Congress to quickly approve new job-creation efforts that
would boost the deficit to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion.
Obama also made his first YouTube interview and spent about 40
minutes answering about a dozen of over 11,000 questions
submitted by YouTube users following his State of the Union
address. This included $708 billion requested by the
Pentagon for 2011.
(AP, 2/1/10)(SFC, 2/2/10,
p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/ycfdtxv)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.34)
2010 Feb 10, Vietnam’s
central bank devalued its currency, the dong, by 3.4%. This
followed a devaluation of 5.4% last November.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.59)
2010 Feb 11, South Korea
said the North Korean government has made a rare apology for a
policy blunder and lifted a ban on using foreign currency.
(SFC, 2/12/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 12, In
Pennsylvania Max Ray Vision, formerly Max Ray Butler, of San
Francisco was sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay
$27.5 million to the banks and credit card companies that he
victimized. In 2009 Butler (36) had identified himself in court
as “Max Vision,” the name he gave himself in the 1990s when he
became a superstar in the computer security community.
(SFC, 2/13/10,
p.D1)(www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/butler_court/)
2010 Feb 12, China raised
the level of reserves banks must hold for the second time this
year, spooking financial markets on the eve of its New Year
holiday by showing it was intent to curb lending and inflation.
(Reuters, 2/13/10)
2010 Feb 16, New US
Treasury data said China's holdings of US Treasury bonds tumbled
in December, allowing Japan to take over as the top holder of
American government debt.
(AFP, 2/16/10)
2010 Feb 19, The US Federal
Reserve raised the rate banks pay for emergency loans by a
quarter point to 0.75% effective today.
(SFC, 2/19/10, p.D1)
2010 Mar 4, A Syrian
archaeologist said more than 250 silver coins dating back to the
time of Alexander the Great have been unearthed. The coins were
discovered two weeks ago in a bronze box in northern Syria when
a local man was digging the foundations of his new home.
(AP, 3/4/10)
2010 Mar 8, The EU said it
plans to create a European Monetary Fund to better coordinate
the economies of the 16 countries that use the euro and prevent
financial debacles such as the Greek debt crisis from
undermining the credibility of Europe's single currency.
(AP, 3/8/10)
2010 Mar 10, Carlos Slim,
Mexican telecom tycoon, jumped past Microsoft founder Bill Gates
and investor Warren Buffett when Forbes magazine released its
2010 list of the world's wealthiest.
(AP, 3/11/10)
2010 Mar 23, The US Federal
Reserve issued new rules to protect Americans from getting stung
by unexpected fees or restrictions on gift cards.
(AP, 3/23/10)
2010 Apr 6, Australia
announced its fifth rate hike since October and said borrowing
costs would continue to rise as growth and inflation return to
normal after the global crisis.
(AP, 4/6/10)
2010 Apr 6, The Canadian
dollar rose to one-for-one footing with the US currency, hitting
its strongest level since July 2008, boosted by rising commodity
prices and expectations for higher domestic interest rates.
(AP, 4/6/10)
2010 Apr 19, In Los Angeles
Brian Alexik (34) slipped out the back window of his apartment
as detectives interviewed local tenants regarding a gas odor.
Detectives found a cache of loaded weapons, including an AK-47,
next to a mosaic depicting the CIA seal. They found equipment
for counterfeiting money. High-powered binoculars were trained
on the US Federal Reserve building next door. Alexik had been
paying about $4,000 cash for his rent but had recently stopped
paying and was on the verge of getting evicted. He allegedly had
been bleaching low-denomination bills then using a printer to
change the value to $100 or $50. In all, police recovered about
$15,000 in bogus bills. Alexik was caught on June 3.
(AP, 6/27/10)
2010 Apr 21, US Treasury
officials unveiled a new $100 bill at a news conference.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100421/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1718)
2010 Apr 28, In Beijing
France and China said they would work together to consider an
overhaul of the global monetary system, at the start of a state
visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AFP, 4/28/10)
2010 Apr, British treasure
hunter Dave Crisp, using a metal detector, located some 52,500
Roman coins in a field in southwestern England. The find
included more than 760 coins from the reign of Carausius, the
Roman naval officer who seized power in 286 and ruled until he
was assassinated in 293.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 May 9, European Union
leaders agreed to provide almost $640 billion in new loans to
contain its spreading government debt crisis and keep it from
tearing the euro currency apart and derailing the global
economic recovery. An IMF contribution would raise the amount to
over $900 million.
(AP, 5/10/10)(SFC, 5/10/10, p.A2)
2010 May 19, John
Shepherd-Barron (84), the Scotsman credited with inventing the
world's first automatic cash machine, died after a short
illness. The first automatic teller machine, now known as ATMs,
was installed at a branch of Barclays Plc in a north London
suburb on June 27, 1967.
(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 May 25, US and Chinese
officials signed accords on trade finance, china’s gas reserves
and credit arrangements, but gave no indication of any progress
on issues involving the value of China’s currency.
(SFC, 5/26/10, p.A3)
2010 May 28, US Regulators
shut down three banks in Florida and one each in Nevada and
California, bringing the number of US bank failures this year to
78.
(AP, 5/29/10)
2010 Jun 1, The Bank of
Canada raised its key interest rate from emergency low levels,
but said the European debt crisis made its next move highly
unpredictable. The rate hike, to 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent,
made Canada the first of the G7 major industrialized countries
to begin hiking interest rates after the global financial
crisis.
(Reuters, 6/1/10)
2010 Jun 15, The US Federal
Reserve adopted new rules aimed at protecting credit card
consumers from getting socked by lofty late payment charges and
other penalty fees. Credit card companies were barred from
charging a penalty fee more than $25 for paying a late bill, and
for penalty fees higher that the amount associated with
violations. Inactivity fees were also banned. The rules take
effect August 22.
(SFC, 6/16/10, p.D3)
2010 Jun 18, Gold for
August delivery rose at a record level of $1258.30 and ounce. It
had hit $1263.70 an ounce earlier in the day.
(SFC, 6/19/10, p.D6)
2010 Jun 19, China’s
central bank said it will gradually make the yuan's exchange
rate more flexible a week before a G20 summit, strongly
suggesting that it was ready to break the currency's
23-month-old dollar peg.
(Reuters, 6/19/10)
2010 Jun 20, China’s
central bank said it will keep the yuan's exchange rate at a
basically stable level, suggesting that the country's new
currency regime will look a lot like the old one.
(Reuters, 6/20/10)
2010 Jun 25, President
Barack Obama declared victory after congressional negotiators
reached a dawn agreement on a sweeping overhaul of rules
overseeing Wall Street. The congressional compromise overhauled
the US banking system and called for an international effort to
prevent future economic meltdowns.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 25, In Austria the
world's largest gold coin has been sold at auction for euro3.27
million ($4 million). The 2007 maple leaf coin with a face value
of 1 million Canadian dollars ($960,000) weighed 220 pounds (100
kg) with a diameter of 21 inches (53 cm).
(AP, 6/26/10)
2010 Jun, China began
allowing most of the country to pay for imports in yuan and for
365 Chinese companies top sell exports for currency. In December
the number was increased to 67,359 companies.
(Econ, 1/22/11, p.85)
2010 Jul 15, The US Senate
approved a 2,300 page bill for financial overhaul. The House
passed the bill last month and Pres. Obama was expected to sign
it into law.
(SFC, 7/16/10, p.A7)
2010 Jul 15, India unveiled
a symbol for its rupee currency that it hopes will become as
globally recognized as signs for the dollar, the yen, the pound
and the euro. The symbol was designed by research student D
Udaya Kumar, who earned $5,300 for his pains.
(AP, 7/15/10)(Econ, 7/24/10, p.43)
2010 Jul 21, Pres. Obama
signed major financial overhaul legislation named after Sen.
Chris Dodd (D-Conn) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass).
(SFC, 7/22/10, p.D1)
2010 Jul 29, The US Mint
introduced a new quarter featuring Yosemite National Park. 3
other parks will be honored this year: Hot Springs, Grand Canyon
and Yellowstone.
(SFC, 7/30/10, p.C2)
2010 Aug 2, Romania's
central bank issued a special coin commemorating Miron Cristea,
a prime minister (1938-1939) and religious leader, who stripped
Jews of their citizenship before World War II. The move prompted
protest from Romanian Jews as well as a director at the US
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
(AP, 8/3/10)
2010 Jun 22, Israeli
archaeologists uncovered the heaviest and most valuable gold
coin ever found in Israel. The 2,200-year-old coin weighs an
ounce (28 grams) and was found at the Tel Kedesh site near the
Lebanon border.
(AP, 8/11/10)
2010 Aug 12, In Malaysia
gold coins came into circulation and could be purchased at
various locations in Kelantan state. Their worth is currently
about $180 per dinar and $4 per dirham. The gold dinar and
silver dirham coins provide an alternative to Malaysia's
currency, the ringgit, in northeastern Kelantan state, which is
governed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, a conservative
opposition group that promotes religious policies in its rule.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 17, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez signed a new law into effect that
formalizes the exclusion of private brokerages from trading the
local bolivar currency or public sector dollar-denominated debt.
(AP, 8/18/10)
2010 Sep 2, El Salvador
lawmakers approved a new law making gang membership punishable
by four to six years in prison. Gang leaders would face up to 10
years. Police found an oil drum filled with money on a ranch in
the town of Penitente Abajo, about 40 miles (62 km) from the
capital. After three days counting the bundles of $100, $50 and
$20 bills, authorities announced that it contained about $9
million in U.S. dollars. Another plastic drum was uncovered Sep
4 about 5 yards away, also crammed with money. A 3rd barrel was
found on Sep 10 containing packets of $100 bills adding up to
$4.2 million.
(AP, 9/2/10)(AP, 9/4/10)(AP, 9/11/10)
2010 Sep 3, The Basel
Committee of int’l. bank regulators agreed on a new set of
rules, known as Basel 3, with requirements for banks liquidity
and capital.
(Econ, 10/9/10, SR p.16)
2010 Sep 8, The Bank of
Canada raised its benchmark interest rate for a third
consecutive time, nudging the rate up 25 basis points to 1
percent, but said a weak US economy would hamper Canada's
recovery.
(Reuters, 9/8/10)
2010 Sep 28, Brazilian
Finance Minister Guido Mantega warned in remarks reported from
Sao Paulo that the world is in the grip of a currency "war",
with leading nations using devaluation to solve economic
problems.
(AFP, 9/28/10)
2010 Sep 29, China repeated
promises of exchange rate flexibility but offered no new
measures that might avert a possible vote by the U.S. House of
Representatives on currency legislation.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Sep, Peruvian police
officers raided a printing press in Lima's San Juan de
Lurigancho district. The operation tallied six different
currencies producing just above $27 million. Fake US $100 bills
accounted for nearly one-third of the total, while euros
accounted for another $4 million. The rest of the bills were
Bolivian, Chilean, Peruvian and Venezuelan currency.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101126/wl_time/08599203215200)
2010 Oct 5, In France
former Societe Generale SA trader Jerome Kerviel was convicted
on all counts in one of history's biggest trading frauds. He was
sentenced to three years in jail, with 2 years suspended, and
was ordered to repay the bank euro4.9 billion ($6.7 billion) in
damages.
(AP, 10/5/10)(Econ, 10/9/10, p.110)
2010 Oct 9, The IMF wrapped
up 2 days of talks in Washington DC. Global leaders failed to
resolve deep differences that threatened a full-blown currency
war.
(SSFC, 10/10/10, p.A10)
2010 Oct 19, China's
central bank surprised with its first increase of interest rates
in nearly three years. The People's Bank of China said it was
raising benchmark rates by 25 basis points, taking one-year
deposit rates to 2.5 percent and one-year lending rates to 5.56
percent. The impact was felt by markets across the board. Oil
and gold prices tumbled, stocks turned negative in Europe and
the dollar jumped.
(Reuters, 10/19/10)
2010 Nov 3, The US Federal
Reserve announced a 2nd round of quantitative easing (QE2) to
invigorate the economy by buying $600 billion more in Treasury
bonds between now and next June in order to drive down interest
rates on mortgages and other debt.
(SFC, 11/4/10, p.C1)(Econ, 11/6/10, p.89)
2010 Nov 4, The Bank of
England voted to keep its key interest rate at a record low 0.50
percent and opted against following in the footsteps of the US
Federal Reserve with fresh stimulus measures.
(AFP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 5, Algeria’s
newspaper El-Watan Week-end reported that local police have
dismantled a group of currency forgers who put more than 48
million euros in fake banknotes on to the market.
(AFP, 11/5/10)
2010 Nov 9, China signaled
its intention to drain excess cash from its financial system by
unexpectedly raising the yield on bills at a central bank
auction and announcing new rules to curb hot money inflows.
(Reuters, 11/9/10)
2010 Dec 6, European
nations wrestled over whether to commit more money to help
stabilize the euro, as finance ministers gathered in Brussels to
find ways to fight the debt crisis that has rocked the currency
bloc.
(AP, 12/6/10)
2010 Dec 25, China’s state
media said police are offering cash and other rewards to
encourage the country's millions of Internet users to help solve
criminal investigations. China announced a 25-basis point
increase in benchmark one-year interest rates, providing
much-needed reassurance that it was determined to rein in price
pressures.
(AFP, 12/25/10)(Reuters, 12/27/10)
2010 Dec 30, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez's government devalued its bolivar currency
for the second time in 12 months, abolishing the lowest exchange
rate as the OPEC member fights to revive its economy.
(Reuters, 12/31/10)
2010 Raghuram Rajan
authored “Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the
World Economy.” He argued that inequality was a cause of the
crises.
(Econ, 3/17/12, p.87)
2010 Anatole Kaletsky
authored “Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the
Aftermath of a Crises.”
(Econ, 7/10/10, p.81)
2010 Sebastian Mallaby
authored “More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a
New Elite,” a history of hedge funds back to the 1950s.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.82)(Econ, 6/26/10, p.89)
2010 Christopher Whalen
authored “Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American
Dream.”
(Econ, 12/18/10, p.164)
2010 In Abu Dhabi German
entrepreneur Thomas Geissler, creator of the "Gold to Go" brand
and chief executive of Ex Oriente Lux, installed a money machine
at the Emirates Palace hotel that dispenses pure gold. The
cash-for-gold machines were first tested in Germany in 2009.
(Reuters, 5/13/10)
2011 Jan 1, Estonia became
the first former Soviet republic to join the euro, Europe’s
common currency.
(SFC, 1/1/11, p.A2)
2011 Jan 15, The United
States passed a dubious milestone: Government debt surged to an
all-time high, more than $14 trillion. The debt level represents
a $45,300 tab for each and everyone in the country.
(AP, 1/15/11)
2011 Feb 8, China raised
interest rates for the second time in just over six weeks,
intensifying a battle in the fast-expanding economy against
stubbornly high inflation that threatens to unsettle global
markets.
(Reuters, 2/8/11)
2011 Feb 18, The United
States sanctioned the New Ansari Money Exchange, a major Afghan
money-exchange outfit, suspected of laundering billions of
dollars in drug money.
(AP, 2/19/11)
2011 Feb 19, The
Republican-controlled US House agreed to cut $61 billion from
hundreds of federal programs and shelter coal companies, oil
refiners and farmers from new government regulations.
(AP, 2/19/11)
2011 Feb 27, Britain froze
the assets of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in the country. The
Daily Telegraph reported that the liquid assets amount to about
£20 billion.
(AFP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 2, Britain seized
£100 million ($160 million, 117 million euros) of Libyan
currency found on a Libya-bound ship after escorting the vessel
to an English port.
(AFP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 9, Forbes magazine
said Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim (71), with assets of $74
billion, is the richest person in the world for the second year
in a row.
(Reuters, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 11, Euro-zone
leaders began a 2-day summit to launch the “pact for the euro,”
a pledge to align members’ economic policies and enhance their
competitiveness.
(Econ, 3/19/11, p.62)
2011 Mar 31, In China
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner called for more flexible exchange rate regimes
as G20 nations met on global monetary reform in Nanjing.
(AFP, 3/31/11)
2011 Apr 1, Debt-stressed
Portugal got some respite from its financial troubles when it
managed to borrow euro1.645 billion ($2.3 billion) in a bond
auction.
(AP, 4/1/11)
2011 Apr 11, Iran’s Central
Bank Gov. Mahmoud Bahmani said Iran plans to slash 4 zeros from
its national currency in "one to two years", seeking parity
between its rial and the US dollar.
(AFP, 4/11/11)
2011 May 8, It was reported
that Paraguay’s national bank planned to drop 3 zeroes from its
currency, the guarani, this year and rename it the new guarani.
Exchange of old notes would continue to 2014.
(SSFC, 5/8/11, p.C3)
2011 May 11, Samuel Kioskli
(64), a former San Francisco ATM serviceman, was arrested during
a routine traffic stop in Phoenix, Arizona. On July 4, 2010, he
stole about 200,000 from six bank branches in SF and one in Daly
City, Ca., by replacing cash with counterfeit $20 bills.
(SFC, 5/27/11, p.C3)
2011 May 16, The US reached
its legal $14.3 billion debt limit. Treasury Sec. Timothy
Geithner said the government can move money around until about
Aug 2, when the Obama administration would be force to choose
between paying creditors or paying for military operations.
America’s debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962.
(SFC, 5/17/11, p.A6)(Econ, 5/14/11, p.96)
2011 May 16, The US
Treasury Department said that China cut its holdings by $9.2
billion to $1.14 trillion, its 5th straight month of trimming.
Treasury officials have said they will be able to continue
regular debt auctions until August 2.
(AP, 5/16/11)
2011 May 20, The IMF
approved providing Portugal with $36.8 billion as part of a
rescue package to help the country tackle its debt.
(SFC, 5/21/11, p.D2)
2011 May 23, Square, a
startup co-founded by Jack Dorsey (one of the creators of
Twitter), unveiled a new payment system that undercut credit
card processing fees charged to small businesses and making it
easy for them to accept digital payments.
(Econ, 5/28/11, p.79)
2011 Jun 29, The US Federal
Reserve slashed the fees which banks charge for debit card
transactions, but did not cut them as deeply as initially
expected. Under the new rules, the fee charged for debit card
transactions would be 21 cents. The fee for an average debit
card transaction was 44 cents.
(AFP, 6/29/11)(SFC, 6/30/11, p.D2)
2011 Jul 1, Australian
federal police charged two currency printing firms and several
of their former senior managers with bribing foreign officials
to secure bank note supply contracts. The charges against
Securency International Pty Ltd., one of the world's leading
currency printing firms, and Note Printing Australia Ltd.
related to alleged bribes paid to officials in Indonesia,
Malaysia and Vietnam between 1999 and 2005.
(AP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 5, Moody's said
China's local government debt burden may be 3.5 trillion yuan
($540 billion) larger than auditors estimated, putting banks on
the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit
ratings.
(Reuters, 7/5/11)
2011 Jul 12, Scottish
couple Colin Weir (64) and his wife Chris (55), who have been
married for 30 years and live in the seaside town of Largs near
Glasgow, became Europe's biggest ever lottery winners, scooping
£162 million ($262 million) in the EuroMillions jackpot.
(AFP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 12, Sudan's Pres.
Omar al-Bashir said his country will issue a new currency
following the loss of oil revenues resulting from South Sudan's
independence last week.
(AP, 7/12/11)
2011 Jul 13, The US Bureau
of Public Debt announced that it will no longer sell US savings
bonds through banks and other financial institutions after Dec
31. Paper bonds would still be available by directing a federal
tax refund into a Series I inflation-linked bond. The bureau
said it will save $70 million over 5 years.
(SFC, 7/14/11, p.D1)
2011 Jul 21, Eurozone
leaders agreed to give Greece euro109 billion ($156 billion) in
new financing in a complex package that includes new loans,
buybacks of Greek debt, and credit guarantees under the deal
agreed.
(AP, 7/22/11)
2011 Jul 24, Sudan launched
a new currency, six days after the newly independent south did
so amid fears of a currency war, but the central bank said it
was ready to negotiate with Juba on the old money.
(AFP, 7/24/11)
2011 Jul 25, A Southern
Sudanese official said northern Sudan has declared "economic
war" by violating an agreement and issuing a new currency just
weeks after the two countries split. He said the north had
agreed not to issue a new currency until six months after the
south did. The move will cost the southern government at least
$700 million.
(AP, 7/25/11)
2011 Jul 26, Nigeria's
central bank jacked up its main interest rate by 0.75 points to
8.75 percent, the fourth increase in six months in a move aimed
at putting a lid on inflation.
(AFP, 7/26/11)
2011 Aug 24, Japan's
government unveiled a $100 billion loans program to ease the
strains of a strong yen and encourage companies to turn
adversity into opportunity.
(AP, 8/24/11)
2011 Sep 1, South Sudan
completed the swift circulation of its new currency, a move
matched by Khartoum, but strengthening the south's formal
independence from the north less than two months ago.
(AFP, 9/1/11)
2011 Sep 5, Nigeria’s
central bank said it plans to include the Chinese yuan as part
of its foreign exchange reserves, a symbolic shift in Africa's
largest oil producer and one of its biggest economies.
(AFP, 9/5/11)
2011 Sep 6, The Swiss franc
dropped sharply after the country's central bank pegged it
against the euro.
(AP, 9/6/11)
2011 Sep 13, The Census
Bureau released its annual report. It said that the ranks of
America's poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year,
reaching a new high as long-term unemployment left millions of
Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured
edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in more than two decades.
A 2010 income of $11,139 defined the poverty level for an
individual or $22,314 for a family of four.
(AP, 9/13/11)(Econ, 9/17/11, p.29)
2011 Sep 15, British police
arrested Kweku Adoboli (31) in London after the rogue trader at
Swiss bank UBS lost an estimated $2.3 billion in unauthorized
trades. On Sep 24 UBS announced the resignation of CEO Oswald
Gruebel.
(AFP, 9/15/11)(AFP, 9/16/11)(SSFC, 9/25/11,
p.A15)
2011 Sep 17, The Occupy SF
movement began on Sep 17 with 6 people gathering outside the
former Bank of America center on California Street in solidarity
with protesters in NYC, who had set up camp in Zucotti Park near
Wall Street the same day.
(AP, 10/6/11)
2011 Sep 18, It was
reported that New Jersey has uncovered a windfall of $26 million
by scouring old bank accounts and finding money left over from
several bond issues, some dating back to the 1960s.
(SSFC, 9/18/11, p.A10)
2011 Oct 5, In San
Francisco some 800 people marched downtown joining a growing
movement whose followers believe that the nation’s financial
system is broken and its distribution of wealth unfair.
(SFC, 10/6/11, p.A10)
2011 Oct 6, The Bank of
England launched a second round of quantitative easing to defend
Britain's faltering economy against the euro zone debt crisis,
pledging to buy 75 billion pounds of assets with new money in a
dramatic move to stave off recession.
(Reuters, 10/6/11)
2011 Oct 6, Britain and
Switzerland signed an agreement to tax money kept by British
residents in secret Swiss bank accounts, a move which could net
the British government billions of pounds and help Swiss banking
clean up its image. The deal, which must still be approved by
the parliaments of both countries, should come into force in
2013.
(Reuters, 10/6/11)
2011 Oct 21, Finance
ministers from 17 eurozone countries agreed to pay Greece $11
billion in its next batch of bailout loans, avoiding a
potentially disastrous default.
(SFC, 10/22/11, p.A5)
2011 Nov 14, Canada
released a new C$100 bill made of plastic, its first step in
replacing an entire series of banknotes to thwart counterfeiters
and persuade retailers it's safe to accept big bills. Canada is
the first to add a metallic hologram that is especially
difficult to fake. Plastic notes, nearly impervious to liquids,
stains, tearing or wear-and-tear, were pioneered by the Reserve
Bank of Australia in 1988.
(Reuters, 11/15/11)
2011 Dec 8, The European
Central Bank (ECB) lowered its benchmark rate from 1.25 to 1
percent, the second quarter point cut in as many months.
(Econ, 12/17/11, p.127)
2011 Dec 31, Basel 2.5, a
new set of int’l. rules charging banks higher capital for risks
in their trading books, took effect in most European and major
world financial jurisdictions.
(Econ, 1/7/12, p.69)
2011 Viral Acharya authored
“Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of
Mortgage Finance.”
(Econ, 10/15/11, p.99)
2011 William Cohan authored
“Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World.”
(Econ, 4/16/11, p.88)
2011 Satyajit Das authored
“Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk.”
(Econ, 10/15/11, p.98)
2011 Barry Eichengreen
authored “Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar
and the Future of the International Monetary System.”
(Econ, 1/22/11, p.98)
2011 Robert Frank authored
“The High-Beta Rich: How the Manic Wealthy Will Take Us to the
Next Boom, Bubble and Bust.”
(Econ, 10/15/11, p.97)
2011 Brevan Howard,
British-based hedge fund manager, authored “Expected Returns: An
Investor’s Guide to Harvesting Market Rewards.”
(Econ, 4/2/11, p.68)
2011 Jeff Madrick authored
“Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America
1970 to the Present.”
(SSFC, 7/3/11, p.G5)
2011 Gretchen Morgenson and
Joshua Rosner authored “Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized
Ambition, Greed and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon.”
(Econ, 10/15/11, p.99)
2011 Jason Sharman authored
“The Money Laundry: Regulating Criminal Finance in the Global
Economy.”
(Econ, 9/17/11, p.64)
2011 Ben Tarnoff authored
“Moneymakers: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of
Three Notorious Counterfeiters.”
(SSFC, 2/27/11, p.G5)
2012 Jan 18, Angola's
government denied that $32 billion had gone missing from public
funds, after the IMF last month raised a flag over a discrepancy
in the national books. The government said the discrepancy
resulted from "oil revenue being inadequately recorded.
(AFP, 1/18/12)
2012 Jan 18, Iran's
currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar, based
on rates in black market trading that the government has tried
to ban.
(AFP, 1/18/12)
2012 Feb 2, The World Bank
said Egypt has asked for a $1.0 billion loan to help it rebuild
its economy.
(AFP, 2/2/12)
2012 Feb 3, The Central
Bank of Sri Lanka hiked its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis
points to 9.0%, the first rise since February 2007 when the rate
was upped to 12.0% from 11.50%. It also asked commercial banks
to reduce lending in the face of a trade deficit.
(AFP, 2/3/12)
2012 Feb 9, The Bank of
England said it will inject another £50 billion into
Britain's weak economy and keep interest rates at a record-low
0.50 percent.
(AFP, 2/9/12)
2012 Feb 11, South Africa
launched a new line of bank notes bearing the image of its first
democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela (93), on the
22nd anniversary of his release from prison.
(AFP, 2/11/12)
2012 Feb 13, President
Barack Obama sent Congress a new budget that seeks to achieve $4
trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade through cuts
in government spending and higher taxes on the wealthy. At the
same time, he wants to boost spending in key areas such as
transportation and education.
(AP, 2/13/12)
2012 Feb 17, Swiss
authorities said they have confiscated $6 trillion in
counterfeit US bonds at the request of Italian prosecutors. In
Italy eight people were arrested across the country and placed
under investigation for fraud and other crimes. The bonds,
carrying the false date of issue of 1934, had been transported
in 2007 from Hong Kong to Zurich, where they were transferred to
a Swiss trust.
(AP, 2/17/12)
2012 Feb 21, Greece reached
an agreement on a $172 billion in loans through 2014 from the EU
governments and the IMF.
(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A4)
2012 Feb 23, The Greek
Parliament approved a massive bond swap that would wipe €107
billion ($142 billion) off the country's privately-held debt, as
new projections showed the economy will suffer the worst
contraction in Europe this year.
(AP, 2/23/12)
2012 Mar 31, The IMF again
pressured impoverished Malawi to devalue its currency, which is
trading on the black market at nearly double the official
exchange rate.
(AFP, 3/31/12)
2012 Apr 3, American
regulators finalized a rule enabling them to expand the
designation of “systematically important” institutions to
non-banks.
(Econ, 4/14/12, p.84)
2012 Apr 9, Bruno Iksil, a
London-based JP Morgan Chase & Co trader of derivatives
linked to the financial health of corporations, was reported to
have amassed positions so large that he's driving price moves in
the $10-trillion market, traders outside the firm said.
(http://tinyurl.com/cdgofmx)(Econ, 4/14/12,
p.84)
2012 Apr 16, The Canadian
mint launched glow-in-the-dark quarters. They featured a
dinosaur whose skeleton shines at night from beneath its scaly
hide. The mintage was limited to 25,000, and would cost
collectors $29.95.
(c/net, 4/12/12)
2012 Apr 16,
Korean-American physician Jim Yong Kim was appointed to head the
World Bank. Challenger and Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala congratulated Kim, but called for changes to the
US-dominated selection process.
(AFP, 4/16/12)
2012 Apr 19, One of the
first pennies ever produced by the US Mint, a 1792 Silver Center
penny, was put up for auction and reportedly sold for more than
$1 million.
(ABCNews, 4/20/12)
2012 Apr 20, Members of the
International Monetary Fund raised $430 billion in new funds for
crisis intervention, with China and other emerging economic
giants taking part.
(AFP, 4/21/12)
2012 May 4, Canada minted
its final one-cent coin and urged people to donate the little
copper-covered coins to charity rather than let them go to
waste.
(Reuters, 5/4/12)
2012 Dan Conaghan authored
“The Bank: Inside the Bank of England. In concentrated on the
period since 1997.
(Econ, 3/31/12, p.95)
2012 Robert Shiller
authored “Finance and the Good Society.”
(Econ, 4/7/12, p.93)
2012 George Szpiro authored
“Pricing the Future: Finance, Physics, and the 300-Year Journey
to the Black-Scholes Equation.”
(Econ, 1/14/12, p.82)
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)
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Money, Big Money
End of file