Great Recession
The causes of the Great Recession include a bunch of weak-points that developed in the finance system. Another cause is a series of events that began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble in 2005–2012. When housing prices fell and homeowners began to abandon their mortgages, the value of mortgage-backed securities held by investment banks went down in 2007–2008. This caused many banks to collapse or be bailed out in September 2008. This 2007–2008 phase was called the subprime mortgage crisis. The combination of banks unable to provide funds to businesses, and homeowners paying down debt rather than borrowing and spending, resulted in the Great Recession. It began in the U.S. officially in December 2007 and lasted until June 2009, lasting over 19 months.