The U.S. federal government possesses the largest stockpile of gold in the world, but even with record high prices, it isn’t likely to be selling any. In fact, other countries and global central banks are building up their gold reserves as the dollar’s value plummets.

The federal deficit for October reached a record-setting level for that month: $176 billion. The Treasury Department made the announcement on November 13, saying the shortfall occurred as income of $135 billion was exceeded by $311 billion in spending.

Many small banks are turning down federal money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) because they recognize that it comes with too many strings attached. Additionally, the small businesses they primarily cater to “need lines of customers, not lines of credit,” as ABC News put it on November 9.

The unemployment rate shot from 9.8 percent in September to 10.2 percent in October, the highest it has been since 1983, the Labor Department reported on November 6. In response, the Obama administration is set to sign a $24-billion economic stimulus bill.

According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate is at an 11-year high while household incomes are at a 10-year low, all thanks to the worst recession since the Great Depression.

As inexpensive Chinese-made automobile tires keep rolling into the United States and U.S. tire manufacturers struggle to stay in business, President Obama will soon have to decide whether or not to impose a tariff on the imports.

The Federal Communications Commission is launching an investigation of the nation’s wireless industry to root out any anti-competitive practices and to decide what regulations should be imposed for the supposed benefit of consumers, Wired reported on August 27.

Like one of the old jalopies it is supposed to remove from the road, the $3-billion cash-for-clunkers program sputtered to a close on August 24. The allegedly successful boost to the economy left in its wake “a nightmare of red tape and computer glitches for dealers who are owed millions of dollars by the government,” the Los Angeles Times reported on August 25.

Wal-Mart on June 30 sent a letter to President Barack Obama stating its support for the federal government forcing all employers to provide insurance for their employees.

On June 17, President Barack Obama proposed sweeping changes to federal regulation of financial markets. Bloomberg.com called it “the biggest overhaul of market rules in more than seven decades.”