The Year that Shook the World

Today is the first anniversary of the start of the economic whirlwind which, by October half term, had left us all gasping as the financial crash thudded around us, and the roots of the recession took hold.

Last year on 7th September the US government rescued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – responsible for nearly half of the outstanding mortgage debt in the US – in the biggest ever bail-out in the US. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the two firms’ debt levels posed a “systemic risk” to financial stability and that, without action, the situation would get worse. In spite of their action, it did get worse anyway, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The BBC is taking the opportunity to launch an Aftershock season, with a series of radio and TV programmes and online resources investigating what happened and the long term impact around the world. The Year that Shook the World is a page summarising the programmes and presentations, but appears to have a number of links that are not working – so also try this Global Recession: Aftershock page for more live links to a number of the resources described on the first page.