Where were you when the Great Recession hit?

[Daniel]

Also, what are your memories of that time and/ or your thought about it today?

I think most people (nobody here) forget it happened or unfortunately just don't have time to think about it.

The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression wasn't called "the Great" for nothing.

I remember this data point-- the time period for unemployment eligibility in Hawaii reached 18 months.

[jon-nyc]

I had something of a front row seat since at the time I was in charge of risk and valuation for the fixed income derivatives business at Credit Suisse. The single most memorial event that I can place myself is the run on Northern Rock since I saw it with my own eyes. People lined up in front of bank branches in the UK like it’s 1933 America.

In fact that was the first bank run in the UK since the 1860s.

The other major events I can’t tell you where I was when I experienced them. In many cases at work dealing with the aftermath.

[Steve Miller]

I remember the exact moment it started. Someone on this board posted an article reporting that the foreclosure rate had risen 1/8 of 1%. At the time I wondered why that was important news - didn’t seem like a big jump and not unexpected given the loans that were being offered at the time.

Everything went downhill from there.

[CHAS]

When will the next one start? heh

[DougG]

I was the chief financial officer of a good sized California bank that specialized in variable rate mortgages.

I don’t remember much about those years other than my company going bankrupt, losing my job and my 401(k) plan, being unemployed for six months, getting divorced and my brother dying.

[jon-nyc]

@CHAS said:

When will the next one start? heh

Within 6 years. Maybe even this year. (Bond markets are already nervous)

But in 2032 or before Congress will have to change the law to cover social security shortfalls out of the general budget. If the dollar crash hasn’t happened by then it will certainly happen then.