Turn the clock back 7 years; here are some events from the end of 2008 to jog one's memory. Not for the faint of heart.


September:

7:*Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are taken over by the government.

15:*Bank of America agrees to purchase Merrill Lynch for $50 billion.

15:*Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy-court protection.

16:*American International Group, the world's largest insurer, accepts an $85 billion federal bailout that gives the government a 79.9% stake in the company.

21:*Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two independent investment banks, will become bank holding companies subject to greater regulation by the Federal Reserve.

25:*Federal regulators close Washington Mutual Bank and its branches and assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase in the biggest U.S. bank failure in history.

29:*Congress rejects a $700 billion Wall Street financial rescue package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 778 points, its single-worst point drop ever.

Oct. 3:*Congress passes a revised version of TARP and President Bush signs it. Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest U.S. bank on the West Coast, agrees to buy Wachovia for about $14.8 billion.

Nov. 18:*Ford, General Motors and Chrysler executives testify before Congress, requesting federal loans from TARP.

Nov. 23:*The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agree to rescue Citigroup with a package of guarantees, funding access and capital. Citigroup will issue preferred shares to the Treasury and FDIC in exchange for protection against losses on a $306 billion pool of commercial and residential securities it holds.

Dec. 19:*The U.S. Treasury authorizes loans of up to $13.4 billion for General Motors and $4.0 billion for Chrysler from TARP.

Sources timeline.stlouisfed.org, AP, Bloomberg.com