Economy

27 October 2009 On the Anniversary of 1929 Crash, How Is It Different Now?  Four-score years ago, on Oct. 28 and 29, 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed. Those two days, known as Black Monday and Black Tuesday, burst a bubble of speculative trading and helped trigger the Great Depression. On this 80th anniversary of the great crash, it is striking to compare the modern stock market to the market of the 1920s.

15 October 2009 Obama Pushes For Tougher Financial Regulation  President Obama is urging Congress to approve his plan to create a new government agency to protect Americans against financial abuses. The president wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Obama says Americans need a single consumer agency to protect them against irresponsible lenders.

06 October 2009 IMF, World Bank Plan Way Forward for Global Economy  The world cannot return to a pattern of uneven economic growth that relies on consumer-led spending in one economy and export-led growth in others, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says. "We are now witnessing stabilization of the global economy and the beginnings of recovery," Geithner said in remarks prepared for delivery at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul.

05 October 2009 Geithner at International Monetary and Financial Committee  Treasury secretary speaks on forging a framework for growth.

26 September 2009 President Affirms Commitment to International Cooperation in Strengthening Economy and Stopping Nuclear Proliferation

25 September 2009 Remarks by President Obama at G20 Closing Press Conference

25 September 2009 G20 Leaders' Statement

25 September 2009 Post-G20 Meeting Fact Sheets

25 September 2009 Statements By President Obama, French President Sarkozy, And British Prime Minister Brown On Iranian Nuclear Facility

24 September 2009 Fact Sheet: Creating A 21st Century International Economic Architecture

24 September 2009 Press Briefing By Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the G20 Meetings

23 September 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Financial Regulatory Reform

21 September 2009 Obama Says U.S. Economy Must Build on Innovation  As the U.S. economy emerges from the deepest crisis since the Great Depression, the great challenge now will be to ensure that the country does not drift into the future by accepting less than its full potential, says President Obama.

14 September 2009 Obama Calls for New Financial Regulatory System  President Obama called on the nation's financial industry September 14 to work with him and Congress in crafting a new regulatory system to prevent a repeat of the current crisis, which is the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In a speech in New York, Obama said there is growing stability appearing in the U.S. economy and it is beginning to return to normal as a result of interventions in the marketplace by the federal government.

08 September 2009 G20 Ministers Say Stimulus Measures to Stay for Now  Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's largest economies have agreed that until there is a sustained economic recovery led by the private sector, multitrillion-dollar stimulus measures taken earlier this year will remain. The ministers met to set the agenda for the summit and to determine what actions may be needed in tandem with stimulus measures — now estimated at $5 trillion — pushed through earlier this year to turn around the deepest global recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

05 September 2009 Statement by Secretary Geithner at the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

03 September 2009 G20 Finance Ministers Meet to Assess Economic Recovery  U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers in London is an opportunity to assess what is working and what is still needed to pull the global economy out of one of the deepest recessions in decades. "If you look at where we are today versus where we were in March or April, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the force of the policy response that we put in place here and the G20 … has been very successful," Geithner said at a press briefing in Washington. "You’re seeing now the first signs of growth … in this country and countries around the world."

25 August 2009 Obama Reappoints Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chairman   Amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Obama has reappointed economist Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank.

28 July 2009 Secretary Clinton Joint Press Availability With Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner

21 July 2009 Remarks on U.S. Economy by Head of White House Economics Council  Lawrence Summers reports on efforts to rescue, rebuild U.S. economy.

21 July 2009 Obama Letter on U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Report  Report to Congress covers activities from October 4, 2008, to June 30, 2009.

17 June 2009 Obama Envisions Sweeping Reform of Financial Regulation   President Obama proposes a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. financial regulatory system, an overhaul designed to address the structural weaknesses revealed by the recent financial crisis and to prevent similar crises in the future.
 •  President Obama’s Remarks on 21st-Century Financial Regulatory Reform
 •  U.S. Treasury Department White Paper (PDF)
 •  Additional Treasury Resources Including a Range of Fact Sheets
A comprehensive list of resources are on our Financial Services and Financial Regulatory Reform page.

16 June 2009 Group of Eight 2009 Summit: An Introduction  The Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized economies will meet in L’Aquila, Italy, in July for the 35th annual summit amid a time of transition in the global economy.

08 May 2009 U.S. Banking System Well Positioned to Weather Recession  Financial markets respond positively to bank "stress test" report.

07 May 2009 U.S., Western European Economic Systems Differ Philosophically  Both the U.S. and Western Europe operate under a capitalist system where most of the means of production remain in private ownership. It is the attitude toward the role of government in shaping the economy and providing social services to citizens that sets the U.S. apart from its friends across the Atlantic.

07 May 2009 Will Financial Crisis Bring U.S.-EU Regulatory Convergence?  Similar regulatory approaches recently pursued by the U.S. and EU to address the financial crisis present an opportunity for more harmony in regulation on the two sides of the Atlantic. But business executives should not count on it, experts say.

05 May 2009 Economy Should Improve in Late 2009  While domestic unemployment is likely to increase in the coming months, there are indications that the pace of the U.S. economic crisis may be slowing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says.

27 April 2009 World Bank Calls for Action to Prevent Global Catastrophe  The World Bank is calling for greater action by nations to curb the current financial and economic crisis before it turns into "a human and development calamity." The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have just completed their annual spring meetings in Washington and will meet again in October for their annual joint meeting.

14 April 2009 Speech by President Obama on U.S. Economy: A New Foundation  Addresses progress, economic challenges in America’s future.

31 March 2009 Group Forecasts Sharp Decline in World Economy  Global economic activity will plummet by an average 4.3 percent this year, sending unemployment soaring past 10 percent while international trade falls by more than 13 percent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Paris-based, 30-nation OECD said in its interim economic outlook that the global economy is in "the deepest and most widespread recession for more than 50 years. The global recession will worsen this year before a policy-induced recovery gradually builds momentum through 2010."

30 March 2009 United States Seeks Collaborative Solution to Financial Crisis  The United States seeks a fresh start with its neighbors in the Americas, says Vice President Joe Biden, beginning with a collaborative approach to confronting the global financial crisis.

27 March 2009 Treasury Chief Says U.S. Needs New Rules of the Road for Finance  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has announced plans to establish a single federal agency responsible for monitoring the entire U.S. financial system.

27 March 2009 Major Economic Powers to Focus on Global Recovery  A boost in international emergency funds and agreement on financial-markets oversight likely will be among the concrete results of the April 2 meeting of the world’s major economic powers.

21 March 2009 President Obama to Focus on Budget Priorities Next Week  In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that in the coming week, he will highlight the core principles of his budget: cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term and making investments in long-delayed priorities like energy independence, education and health care reform.

19 March 2009 U.S. Central Bank Moves to Pump Up Economy  With its interest rate hovering around zero, the Federal Reserve — the U.S. central bank — has resorted to unconventional measures to infuse more than $1 trillion into the ailing financial system. The bank announced March 18 it will purchase $750 billion in mortgage-backed securities and $300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds to bring down costs of home-purchase financing and other types of loans as well as to reduce long-term interest rates.

18 March 2009 Is the United States Headed Toward a New Great Depression?  Irene Hobson, 89, remembers scenes of hardship from the Great Depression of the 1930s, like the stream of men peddling apples on the sidewalks in her modest Washington neighborhood. Today, as unemployment rises and the recession deepens, growing numbers of people wonder whether the U.S. could be headed toward a repeat of the Great Depression, when a quarter of the work force was unemployed and millions of Americans fell into poverty.

25 September 2009 Key Accomplishments of the Group of 20 Pittsburgh Summit  Countries to continue economic stimulus plans, reform financial regulation.

16 March 2009 G20 Ministers Pledge to Continue Action on Recession  G20 finance ministers and central bank governors reached a "strong consensus on the need for both recovery and for reform" to deal with the current global economic recession, says U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

14 March 2009 Prepared Statement by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting
 • U.S. G-20 Fact Sheet

13 March 2009 G20 Countries Lean Toward Protectionism, Despite Pledge Not To  Curbing protectionism will be a major agenda item when the leaders of the world’s major economies meet April 2 at the G20 Summit in London. Nevertheless, nearly all of these countries enacted new restrictions on imports since their last meeting on November 15, despite their pledges not to do so, according to the World Bank.

13 March 2009 Responding to an Historic Economic Crisis: The Obama Program  Remarks of Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.

12 March 2009 Economy Seen as Overarching Issue for Americas Summit  While economic prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability are primary issues for the fifth Summit of the Americas in April, the overarching issue confronting the Western Hemisphere is the current economic crisis, says a senior U.S. diplomat.

12 March 2009 Treasury Chief Says Deepening Global Woes Require Global Response  The global recession is deepening and recovery requires a coordinated global response, says U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "As the crisis has spread from advanced economies, emerging-market and developing countries are experiencing a severe economic slowdown and sharp declines in capital inflows and exports," Geithner said in advance of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting March 14–15 in London.

11 March 2009 Remarks by the President And Treasury Secretary Geithner  President Obama and the Secretary of the Treasury discussed the upcoming G20 economic summit.

03 March 2009 Government Actions Seen Affecting Economic Recovery  The effectiveness of actions taken by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and other federal agencies in restoring financial stability will determine much of the timing and strength of the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says.

February 2009

25 February 2009 President Lays Out Economic Recovery Agenda  President Obama spoke to Americans before a joint session of the U.S. Congress about his plans to stabilize, revitalize and expand an American economy that has been weakened and buffeted by an array of conflicting forces, from tight credit to stumbling stock markets.

24 February 2009 Central Bank Chairman Says U.S. Economy in Severe Contraction  The U.S. economy is in a "severe contraction," but with a strong mix of government action by the president and Congress, and monetary stimulus from the nation’s central bank, a recovery could begin next year, says Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

21 February 2009 Weekly Address by the President  President Obama remarks on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

17 February 2009 Remarks by Obama at Signing of Economic Stimulus Bill  "Today does not mark the end of our economic troubles. Nor does it constitute all of what we must do to turn our economy around. But it does mark the beginning of the end – the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; to provide relief for families worried they won’t be able to pay next month's bills; and to set our economy on a firmer foundation, paving the way to long-term growth and prosperity."
 • Recovery.gov
 • Signed, sealed, delivered: ARRA (White House blog)

12 February 2009 Economic Crisis Seen Posing Significant Threat to United States  The most significant immediate threat to the U.S. is the continuing global economic crisis, said National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair. The U.S. intelligence community makes an annual report to Congress on the most significant global threats facing the nation.

10 February 2009 U.S. Bank Rescue Program Gets Overhaul  The U.S. government and central bank are moving to attack the financial crisis on multiple fronts in the hope that targeting critical weaknesses will make the financial system work properly again. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner 10 announced a new multipronged approach to problems affecting the banking system under the revised financial program known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

10 February 2009 Obama: Spend Now or Face Catastrophe Later  The U.S. Senate passed its version of an economic stimulus bill, one that would pump more than $800 billion into the U.S. economy through a combination of public spending and tax cuts. The bill now must be reconciled with an earlier, different version passed by the House of Representatives. Congress hopes to achieve a compromise between the two bills quickly, in an effort to stimulate the economy by spending on infrastructure improvements, renewable energy projects and health care.

05 February 2009 Americans Need Swift, Bold, Wise Action on Economy, Obama Says  "By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression."..."What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis."

January 2009

22 January 2009 Quick, Careful Action Needed on Economy, Treasury Nominee Says  The U.S. must act with the "strength, speed and care necessary to get our economy back on track and to restore America's faith in our economic future," Secretary of the Treasury–designate Timothy Geithner says

14 January 2009 Inventor Says Most U.S. Corporations Stifle Employee Creativity  The creator of the first Internet firewall, who holds dozens of other patents and patent applications, says most U.S. corporations have lost their competitive edge because they stifle innovative thinking by their employees. "Most people in corporations don't know when they're doing well," said David Pensak, the founder of Raptor Systems Inc., which marketed his firewall. "The only feedback [employees] get is cash bonuses," he said.

08 January 2009 Innovation May Help United States Meet Economic Challenges  The United States' lead in innovation makes it better positioned to face future challenges than is any other country, despite current economic woes, according to a new study. The U.S. economy was ranked as the most innovative in the world by INSEAD, a Paris-based business school, in its Global Innovation Index.

The U.S. Budget FY 2010

26 February 2009 Obama Submits U.S. Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2010  “A budget is more than simply numbers on a page,” President Obama said as his administration submitted a summary of his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2010 to Congress February 26.
 • 26 February 2009 Remarks by the President on the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget
 • 26 February 2009 Fiscal 2010 Budget Seeks More Spending for Diplomacy, Assistance   President Obama is calling for a nearly 10 percent increase for spending on diplomacy and foreign assistance in 2010, putting the United States on a path toward greatly increasing its spending in those areas, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
 • The full text of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2010 (PDF, 2 MB) is available on the Government Printing Office Web site..

Terrorist Financing

Terrorist Financing — An IIP@State Department web site
See also Money Laundering (below)

Money Laundering

Money Laundering — An IIP@State Department web site

The 2008 Economic Report of the President

The Economic Report of the President, published annually and transmitted to Congress, usually in early February, comprises a brief report by the President on the state of the economy, plus the Annual Report of the Council of the Economic Advisors. This latter document contains an analysis and review of economic events and trends during the past year, projections for the current year and tables with current and historic economic data. A paper copy may be purchased from the USGPO. The Information Resource Center can advise on locations in the United Kingdom where the report can be studied.

Treasury Bulletin

The Treasury Bulletin is issued quarterly by the US Department of the Treasury. It provides information on Treasury issues and Federal financial operations through special reports, tables and charts. Each issue contains a useful Profile of the Economy and a summary of economic indicators including GDP and consumer prices.

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