October 3, 2008: The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is signed into law by President Bush. The legislation commits $700 billion in federal taxpayer funds toward the purchase of mortgage-backed securities and other assets from struggling financial institutions in an effort to restore confidence in the credit markets.
October 6-10, 2008: The Dow suffers its largest-ever weekly loss: 1,874 points. The value of U.S. stocks plunges, causing many Americans to lose savings invested in financial markets.
November, 2008: The U.S. government announces its plan to bail out Citigroup, in response to concerns that the bank lacked sufficient funds to cover its mortgage-related losses. The government essentially purchases $45 billion worth of preferred and common stock in the company, which is sold a few years later at a net gain of $12 billion.
December, 2008: Struggling automakers General Motors and Chrysler receive a combined $80.7 billion TARP funds to remain afloat and keep workers employed.
December 16, 2008: The Federal Reserve reduces short-term interest rates to 0 percent for the first time in American history. The Fed had been reducing the target interest rate incrementally (usually by a quarter- or a half-percent) since the start of the Great Recession in an attempt to boost loans for real estate sales and capital investment.