In 2008 there was a world financial crisis.
In the summer of 2007 there were rumblings in the UK stock market. The banks began to stop lending to each other because of potential market fears of losses on high risk lending/mortgages in the USA. Thus began the meltdown of the financial sector. The ripple effect, which became a stream and then a torrent, which began in the USA.
Sept 2007 – Northern Rock requests help from the Bank of England.
Feb 2008 – The British Govt nationalises Northern Rock to create some stability.
July 2008 – Financial authorities step in to help Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in USA – that have 5 trillion worth of home loans.
Sept 2008 – Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and another US bank, Merrill Lynch, is taken over by the Bank of America.
Sept 2008 – Lloyds TSB announces a £12 billion deal to take over Britain’s biggest mortgage lender HBOS after a run on HBOS shares.
Sept 2008: The government takes control of Bradford & Bingley’s £50 billion of mortgages and loans. Savings operations and branches are sold to Spain’s Santander.
Sept 2008: The Irish government guarantees deposits in the country’s main banks for two years.
October 8 , 2008: The Bank of England cuts interest rate by 0.5% to 4.5% in a surprise decision as part of a co-ordinated global attempt to ease the financial crisis. The Government unveils an unprecedented £50 billion plan to part-nationalise major UK banks and pump billions more into helping ailing money markets.
October 13, 2008: The government announces a £37 billion rescue package for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
January 2009: The Irish government says it is to nationalise the Anglo Irish Bank.
April 16 2010: The Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Goldman of defrauding investors of more than $1bn by wilfully mis-marketing toxic sub-prime mortgage-related securities.
And it wasn’t caused by a Labour Govt. It was a Labour Govt that tried to stop a disaster becoming a catastrophe.
The history of the financial crisis should not be forgotten.
When the public sector bailed out the financial sector – the result has been austerity brought on by a few who thought a free market was the answer.
If we are ever to learn from the past and protect the future, then there has to be an understanding of what actually happened. This is an glimpse into the past that is still affecting the present.
Thanks to Telegraph for some details of the timeline. You can find further details here – its only received 2 Tweets – so tweet the article and tweet this one. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8592990/Timeline-of-world-financial-crisis.html
