Austerity and the European Economy

Euro Money

Current Economic State in Europe

The European economy has experienced extreme economic trouble due to the recent worldwide economic crisis and has yet to embark on a recovery.  The economy is expected to shrink in 2013 for the second consecutive year.  The European Central Bank announced the region’s banks planned to repay less than half of expected amount of low-interest loans from last year and Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Britain’s government bonds from its top AAA rating.  While many countries around the world have suffered from the economic downturn, Europe has continued to struggle and has yet to show progress towards revival.

How Does VC Affect the Global Economy?

Global Economy

As a venture capital firm, Effi Enterprises seeks out emerging businesses that are in need of the funding necessary to grow into a thriving, public company.  These early-stage companies have extreme potential for improvement, but assistance from a firm like Effi Enterprises is all they lack.  In exchange for equity in the company, venture capital firms will invest large amounts of financial capital into the startup to give it the boost necessary to become successful.  As an entrepreneur, Efraim Landa, the founder of Effi Enterprises, understands the importance of innovation and the promotion of small business to the overall success of the economy.

The US Economy in March 2013

Wall Street

Effi Enterprises is a venture capital firm, which can provide funding along with managerial and business plan assistance to small companies in exchange for equity in the company. As a venture capital firm, Effi Enterprises searches for early stage businesses that need the necessary funding and business advice to succeed. Effi Enterprises can also assist businesses in becoming public companies in ten years or less. Venture capital firms are always watching the global markets, looking for emerging markets with extreme potential for investment opportunities. The venture capital industry has expanded around the world, and in recent years, Effi Enterprises has also become increasingly involved in global investments. 

History of the Fed

Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States.  Under a presidentially appointed Board of Governors located in Washington D.C., there is a network of 12 Federal Reserve Banks and 25 branches.  It was officially established under Woodrow Wilson and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

Early Beginnings of the Fed

This modern federal banking system traces its origins to the First National Bank that was established by Congress at the urging of Alexander Hamilton.  Many agrarian minded Americans were unsettled by the idea of such a powerful and extensive banking system and Congress refused to renew it after its twenty-year charter expired in 1811.  In response to inflation after the War of 1812, Congress decided to charter the Second National Bank of the United States.  However, after the passionate objections of President Andrew Jackson that a central bank was a threat to the liberties of the American people, Congress once again refused to renew the bank’s charter.  State chartered banks and unchartered “free banks” with no federal regulation carried America’s banking for the next quarter century.  This system was characterized by inadequate bank capital, risky loans, and insufficient reserves against bank notes.  Even after the National Banking Act of 1863 attempted to stabilize American banking by allowing for the creation of nationally chartered banks, giving them the sole power to issue bank notes, bank runs and financial panics ensued.  After multiple depressions in the economy, Congress began to take action, setting the stage for the emergence of a decentralized central banking system.  First, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908 established the National Monetary Commission to generate a long-term solution to the country’s serious banking and financial difficulties.  This Commission created a plan that called for one central institution, called the National Reserve Association, under the control of a board of primarily bankers, with the power to issue currency and multiple branches across the nation.  Receiving aggressive opposition, this plan was never passed but it did prepare the way for the passage of a banking and currency reform program where central banking was placed under public, rather than banker, control.