1997: The White House announces that the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz is cancelling a stopover and heading straight to the Persian Gulf to discourage skirmishes between Iran and Iraq. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges more than 188 points, or 2.3%, in panicky intraday trading before it closes the day up 11.05 points, or 0.14%.

The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 1997, pp. C3, C19;Pensions & Investments, Oct. 13, 1997, p. 66

1913: Less than 20 years after Federal income tax was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, it comes back from the dead as the Underwood-Simons bill (later known as the Income Tax Act of 1913) is enshrined into law by Pres. Woodrow Wilson–who signs it after 9 p.m. to prevent anyone from hiding assets during that day's business hours. The tax kicks in at 1% of all earned income over $2,500 for single taxpayers and $3,333.35 for couples.

The New York Times, October 4, 1913, p. 1;reprinted in Floyd Norris and Christine Bockelmann, The New York Times Century of Business (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000), pp. 46-47.

1776: The U.S. government begins borrowing from the public in earnest, as Congress sets up a systematic borrowing program, complete with "loan offices" in each state to be run by brokers who would receive a commission of 1/8th of 1% on all the money they raised. The goal is to raise $5 million at 4% annual interest. But, with inflation raging in wartime, the public considers that interest rate insultingly low, and the government raises less than $850,000.

William G. Anderson, The Price of Liberty: The Public Debt of the American Revolution (Univ. Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1983), pp. 6-9.