2008 Financial Crisis Trivia Questions

Lehman filed for bankruptcy on Sept 15, 2008. Two days later, the Fed bailed out AIG for $85 billion, fearing global contagion from its insurance contracts.

Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch on Sept 14, 2008, for about $50 billion, a steep discount from its $100 billion peak in 2007.

While subprime mortgages were a key factor, the crisis also involved complex derivatives, global imbalances, and regulatory failures in multiple countries.

European banks like UBS and Deutsche Bank suffered huge losses in 2008, and the crisis immediately spread via cross-border lending and toxic US assets.

Iceland's three major banks failed within a week, causing a 50% stock market drop and a deep recession—one of the worst in modern history for a small nation.

Dodd-Frank increased regulation and oversight but did not break up big banks; it imposed stress tests and the Volcker Rule on proprietary trading.

Those hedge funds collapsed in July 2007, but the crisis is usually dated from the Bear Stearns rescue in March 2008—so the statement's timeline is misleading.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke discussed closing banks for a few days, but decided against it, fearing mass panic.