The Great Recession By 119116 Dec 1, 2007 The Recession Begins Mar 16, 2008 Bear Stearns Bank Collapses Apr 4, 2008 80,000 Jobs are Cut Sep 5, 2008 Unemployment Rate Rises to 6% Sep 7, 2008 US Treasury takes over the two mortgage buyers Sep 29, 2008 Bush's $700 billion bailout Oct 1, 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program gives the government a chance Oct 3, 2008 US Senate passes the $700 billion Bank Bailout Bill Nov 7, 2008 Unemployment rises to 6.5%, 1.2 million jobs lost for the year Jan 9, 2009 11.1 Million are Unemployed in the US Feb 13, 2009 Congress passes the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Jun 1, 2009 Official End of the Recession Nov 6, 2009 Weakness in the Job Market Mar 4, 2011 Unemployment goes to 8.9% has the economy finally turned the corner? Aug 5, 2011 How will the country pay back its debt? Sep 8, 2011 With no new jobs President Obama makes a speech with a plan to jumpstart the economy Dec 5, 2011 Americans have collected $434 billion in unemployment benefits