Government Agencies.

As the central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve is the institution in which the federal government and private banks do their banking.

Created on April 1, 1979, by President Jimmy Carter, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was a federal government response to the need for a centralized emergency management system.

Establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation helped eliminate bank panics, which had been a major contributor to business depressions.

Because the Federal Communications Commission has the power to allocate frequency bands and to grant (or deny) licenses to radio and television stations, it has had a profound effect on these and other communications businesses, which commission officials are legally required to monitor so that they serve the public interest.

The Farm Credit Administration is the federal agency that regulates all other government entities providing credit facilities for farmers, other rural landholders, and ruralbased businesses.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States helps encourage and maintain trade between the United States and other nations by reducing the risks associated with that trade.

The EEOC is responsible for many late twentieth century changes in the hiring, promotion, and dismissal procedures of American businesses.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulates and punishes companies whose practices damage the environment, while it encourages businesses to research and develop environmentally friendly technologies and products.

The Department of Energy is charged with developing the overall energy policy for the United States.

Because it is the responsibility of the Department of Education (ED) to establish and disseminate educational policy and to inaugurate and oversee federal funding designated for educational assistance, this department has direct responsibility both for identifying the needs of personnel to join the American workforce and developing means to train people to fill these needs.

As the lawmaking body of the U.S. national government, Congress is responsible for all legislation that affects American business.

Probably no office of the United States government relates more directly to the American business community than does the Department of Commerce, which arranges for loans to businesses...

In 1811, Congress failed to recharter the First Bank of the United States, because the majority Democratic-Republican Party believed that its existence was unconstitutional.

Independence from Great Britain brought the United States and its constituent states considerable debt.

The federal government’s creation of Amtrak allowed private railroad companies to abandon their passenger services, which had become highly unprofitable.

The Department of Agriculture was created to boost national agricultural production, but it later acquired responsibility for ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply as well.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent federal agency, although the secretary of state broadly oversees its work.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent federal agency that works to support economic growth and agricultural development, global health, and disaster assistance in developing areas of the world.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federal CORPORATION providing public power services in seven southeastern states. The TVA, created by the U.S. Congress in 1933, was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” legislation designed to stimulate the U.S. economy out of the GREAT DEPRESSION.

Social security is the general term used in the United States to refer to three major government-administered programs: • Old Age and Survivors Income (OASI) • SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME (SSI) • Medicaid The Social Security Act of 1935 was legislated in response to the GREAT DEPRESSION, during which millions of Americans lost their jobs and had few resources on which to fall back.

The Small Business Administration (SBA), created in 1953, provides LOANS, loan guarantees, and business counseling and advice to owners and would-be owners of small businesses. In 2000, the SBA portfolio included over 200,000 loans worth more than $45 billion. The SBA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a federal agency created to oversee the U.S. securities market.

Public utilities are firms or industries regulated by government agencies (usually public-utility commissions).

The term privatization is used in two distinct but related ways. First, privatization is what occurs when an industry previously owned by the government is returned to the private sector. In the past a country may have “nationalized” an industry by either starting it or taking ownership of it.