Timeline
Jordan Pezzuolo
1791 Bank of the US
1816 Second Bank of the US
Civil War (printing currency),
1863 National Banking Act
1913 Federal Reserve Act
The 1913 U.S. legislation that created the current federal reserve system. The Federal Reserve Act intended to establish a form of economic stability through the introduction of the Central bank, which would be in charge of monetary policy, into the United States. The Federal Reserve Act is perhaps one of the most influential laws concerning the U.S. financial system.
1930’s Great Depression (regarding banking)
The run on America’s banks began immediately following the stock market crash of 1929. Overnight, hundreds of thousands of customers began to withdraw their deposits. With no money to lend and loans going sour as businesses and farmers went belly up, the American banking crisis deepened. After taking office in March 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt did his best to shore up the flagging banking system. When a third banking panic in less than four years threatened, he announced a three-day bank holiday to stop the run on banks by halting all financial transactions. When the banks were allowed to reopen, nearly 1,000 banks had been saved.
Glass-Steagall Banking Act
1970’s (regarding banking)
It's the 1970s, and the stock market is a mess. It loses 40% in an 18-month period, and for close to a decade few people want anything to do with stocks. Economic growth is weak, which results in rising unemployment that eventually reaches double-digits. The easy-money policies of the American central bank, which were designed to generate full employment, by the early 1970s, also caused high inflation. The central bank, under different leadership, would later reverse its policies, raising interest rates to some 20%, a number once considered usurious. For interest-sensitive industries, such as housing and cars, rising interest rates cause a calamity. With interest rates skyrocketing, many people are priced out of new cars and homes.