Starting off the decade, the dot-com bubble was just about ending. This historic event, beginning in mid 1990s, saw the rise in many internet-based companies. The word "dot-com" became so significant that company's stock would see a major rise if they simply put .com in their name. The bubble burst, and the industry stabilized. Many companies' stocks fell drastically, such as Cisco, whose stock fell 80%. Some companies, however, failed completely. This event can be summarized like this; The internet industry blew up, companies and their stocks were reaching huge numbers, but eventually, once the bubble finally reached it's peak, the industry stabilized, and fell to the value it was actually worth at the time.
9/11
Described as one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history, 9/11 not only had a large impact future affairs with the middle east, but also impacted our economy. Quickly after the event, the stock market closed for 4 trading days. Along with the Y2K scare, the recession, which seemed like it was beginning to end, extended.in 2002, the market slid significantly as a result of 9/11. These attacks led the War on Terror to began, where the government began large military spending.
Hurricane Katrina
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina landed on U.S. Shores, and is now known as one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history. In the areas largely affected by the storm, thousands of people lost their jobs, and around 275,000 homes were destroyed. Fortunately, after a small drop in the economy, it quickly rebounded, and issued a period of prosperity.
Sub-prime mortgage crisis
Our first event listed that was caused purely through human error, the subprime mortgage crisis was a rough lesson for many banks and financial portfolio holders. Historically and now currently, it can be tough getting your hands on a large mortgage, especially those were considered high risk. In 2007, however, many lenders gave out these very mortgages to families who were considered high risk. They did this while repackaging these loans back and sold to investors. After the housing market peaked, and inevitably began to drop, the interest started to become too large for these families to pay their debts at all, and many actually had to sell the house they got the mortgage for. Fannie and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises, were seized.
The Great Recession
Arguably the largest economic event of the 2000s, the the great recession officially began with the the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The largest recession since the great depression, these few years saw major job loss, and a near collapse for many investors. As a result, unemployment and poverty rate rose dramatically, and an estimated 6.1% of the payroll employment was loss. The recovery has been described as "sluggish", and this event still has its impact on our economy today.
Amadeo, Kimberly. "How the 9/11 Attacks Still Damage the Economy Today." The Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <https://www.thebalance.com/how-the-9-11-attacks-still-affect-the-economy-today-3305536>.
Herman, Charles. "Katrina's Economic Impact: One Year Later." ABC News. ABC News Network, 25 Aug. 2006. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <http://abcnews.go.com/Business/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=2348619&page=1>.
"Subprime Mortgage Crisis - A detailed essay on an important event in the history of the Federal Reserve." Subprime Mortgage Crisis - A detailed essay on an important event in the history of the Federal Reserve. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017. <http://www.federalreservehistory.org/Events/DetailView/55>.
"The Great Recession." State of Working America. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017. <http://stateofworkingamerica.org/great-recession/>.