BALI, Indonesia — With stock markets around the world having beaten a hasty retreat recently, a cautionary tale might be found by looking at the United States, since it is ground zero for current economic and financial upheavals.

While President Barack Obama is overseeing vast spending increases to stabilize the economy, the U.S. stock market was tanking while prices of long-term Treasuries continued to rise.

It is no coincidence that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) had the worst January in its 113-year history, down 31 percent, nor that blue chips had the worst February since 1933, down another 120 points, while the S&P 500 declined by 2.4 percent. After six consecutive monthly declines, the DJIA breached 7000, sparking talk of a correction to 5000.