The Business Cycle Timeline

  • World War I

    World War I
    After the war the economy started expanding. At first other countries were purchasing goods from the U.S which helped, and then when we joined the war unemployment went down by a lot.
  • The Great Depression

    The Great Depression
    The country was in a depression at the time, hence the name "The Great Depression". The stock market crashed in October of 1929 and wall street freaked out and wiped out millions of investors. As comanies started to fail they fired their workers which led to the unemployment rate shooting up. Standard of living wasn't doing well either then.
  • World War II

    World War II
    World War II was the turning point for the economy basically. The GDP went up because people were making thing for the war, which helped the unemployment rate too. The economy started expanding.
  • The Korean War

    The Korean War
    The economy expanded again during the Korean War, since the GDP went up again. But taxes did go up to pay for the war. Standard of living imporved too, since the interstate highway system was modernized during that time.
  • OPEC oil embargo

    OPEC oil embargo
    The economy was going through a recession during this time. Inflation was a major problem at the time and when OPEC "imposed an embargo on the sale of oil to the U.S." the price for it went way up, so it made things worse.
  • The Gulf War

    The Gulf War
    The economy was going through a recession because of the gulf war. Since it was very costly war, and it says that many "dot-coms" went out of business, and the war added on a lot to our national debt.
  • 9/11 Terrorist Attack

    9/11 Terrorist Attack
    The attacks aggrevated the recession tht started early 2001. After the attacks the cost for defence raised, which increased the U.S. debt.
  • Hurricane Katrina

    Hurricane Katrina
    The U.S went through a recession after this. Not only was the damage super costly for the U.S, but it also affected oil production. So inflation for gas was created, and the prices were already high.