Economics: Good Ol Days Project; Individual Timeline

By sebastian kreidler

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 101.3

  • Consumer Price Index = 188.9

  • Gross Domestic Product = 3.8%

  • Inflation rate = 3.26%

  • The Central Intelligence Agency admits that the imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction was not present before the 2003 Iraq war began.

  • Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity) confirms to NASA that the area of their landing was once covered in water.

  • Discount rate = 3.25

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 101.0

  • Consumer Price Index = 195.3

  • Gross Domestic Product = 3.3%

  • Inflation rate = 3.42%

  • 2005 saw a continuation of the roaring bull market, which began around March 2003.

  • Discount rate = 5.25

  • The end of the productivity boom.

  • The Convergence of Employment Rates between the EU and the U.S. � According to the OECD, the employment to population (EPOP) ratios for prime age workers (ages 25-54) in the EU 15 and the United States had nearly converged by 2006.

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 100.3

  • Consumer Price Index = 201.6

  • Gross Domestic Product = 2.7%

  • Inflation rate = 2.54%

  • Discount rate = 6.25

  • Housing crisis deepens. Banks and hedge funds that invested big in subprime mortgages are left with worthless assets as foreclosures rise. The damage reaches the top echelons of Wall Street:

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 100.8

  • Consumer Price Index = 207.3

  • Gross Domestic Product = 1.8%

  • Inflation rate = 4.08%

  • Homes Sales Peak

  • Stock Market Rebounds After Worst Week in Years

  • Discount rate = 4.75

  • Inflation rate = 0.09%

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 98.7

  • Gross Domestic Product = -0.3%

  • Consumer Price Index = 215.3

  • Fed Innovated to Replace a Failed Banking System.

    In 2008, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used innovations to allow the Fed to shore up the failed financial system. In March, the Fed launched the Term Auction Facility. It made short-term loans available to cash-strapped banks who wouldn't lend to each other. In October, the Fed made $540 billion in loans to bail out money market funds. In November, the Fed agreed to buy $800 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an attempt to lower interest rates.

  • Discount rate = .50

  • Inflation rate = 2.72%

  • Consumer Confidence Index = 96.7

  • Consumer Price Index = 214.5

  • Gross Domestic Product = -2.8%

  • Banks reported losing more than $1 trillion ​since the beginning of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in 2007.

    That forced them to come up with $946 billion in capital to offset the losses. As a result, banks hoarded cash. That included the $350 billion they received from the U.S. Treasury as part of the Bank Bailout.

  • Discount rate = .50