Financial Crisis of 2007

A $700 billion bailout bill put forward by the government to purchase toxic mortgage assets from troubled financial institutions fails to get passed precipitating a Financial Crisis.

The rejection of a $700-billion bailout bill, which proposed the government purchase toxic mortgage-related assets from troubled financial institutions, by the U.S. House of Representatives sends global markets into a tailspin. After a month that saw the government seize control of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the collapse, bailout and merger of some of Wall Street's biggest banks, the Dow loses 429 points in just six minutes.