When a newscaster refers to TARP and ABS* we can be relatively sure she is not talking about waterproofed canvases and abdominal muscles. Due to the current financial crisis and our nation’s recovery efforts obscure acronyms and terms have become commonplace in nightly newscasts. If you are wondering what these acronyms stand for and how they affect your daily life don’t worry, there are resources that make the mysterious and exotic world of finance understandable to the average person.

Cleveland Public Library has a variety of resources that can help you better understand our current economic situation and what is being done to rectify the problem. The list below contains books and resources that have come out recently regarding our nation’s economy and recovery efforts. 

If you only need the definition of a single word or would like something more in depth please feel free to contact the Business, Economics, and Labor Department at (216)-623-2927.

* Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Asset Backed Securities (ABS)

Dictionaries and Glossaries

U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Term Decoder (online)

Layman’s finance crisis glossary (online)

Barron’s dictionary of finance and investment terms

The finish rich dictionary : 1001 financial words you need to know

Books

The credit crunch : housing bubbles, globalisation and the worldwide economic crisis by Graham Turner

Financial shock : a 360° look at the subprime mortgage implosion, and how to avoid the next financial crisis by Mark M. Zandi

Global financial meltdown : how we can avoid the next economic crisis by Colin Reed

Obama's challenge : America's economic crisis and the power of a transformative presidency by Robert Kuttner

The return of depression economics and the crisis of 2008 by Paul R. Krugman

** Image courtesy of Paul Falardeau.