The market hits its high in October 2007.
The over-leveraged housing market began collapsing in late 2007, leading the stock market to have its worst beginning of the year on record in 2008 (only to be surpassed by the start to 2009).
Leverage caused Bear Stearns to fall apart in the Spring of 2008 (sold to JPM Chase). When Lehman Brothers failed in the Fall, Hank Paulson acted swiftly to bail out AIG and its counterparties, thus saving Goldman Sachs, his alma mater.
As the global economy continued to unwind and market continued to fall, the US elected a President with virtually no real experience aside from his work as an associate professor at the University of Chicago. His approach to managing an economy in crisis replicated his management of a graduate level class, and he convened special discussion groups to ponder this implications of a failing banking system.
In response, markets fell further in early 2009. The government bought large stakes in all major banks, GM and Chrysler, and removing the notion of moral hazard and nationalizing risk. The President and Tim Geithner, his new Treasury Secretary, acted swiftly to create every stumulus under the sun. Unemployment rose to 10% (and effectively much higher). As a result, the US deficit and debt spiralled out of control, yet the Chinese have continued to purchase and we have effectively become a subsidiary of China.
Most recently, the dollar has begun to collapse in full force as the government has continued to hold interest rates low. The stock market, inexplicably has rallied over 60% since the low, yet nobody is in it.
And, if that doesn't all sound crazy enough, our President has won the Noble Prize!
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