As June came to a close, I decided to put together a timeline of the first 6 months of this year.  It includes events for this website, economic news, and random commentary.  There are a ton of links so there’s plenty for you to read today.

January 14 - National average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.07 according to The Department of Energy

January 15 - The Weakonomist buys a 2008 Honda Accord.  Given the great deal he gets and the accelerated payoff schedule, he doesn’t bother trying to negotiate down the financing.

January 22 - Emergency Fed Cut:  Media hype leads to the “recession” being a word on the same level as your choice of derogatory terms.  Said media creates market turmoil.  To keep Wall Street executives from jumping out of window like 1929 Superman is contracted to physically lift up the NYSE to keep it afloat Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke cuts the fund rate 75 basis points in an unprecedented and unscheduled move.

January 29 - The US House of Representatives, lead by Wonder Woman, introduces the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.  Most taxpayers will receive a $600 stimulus check.

January 30 - Additional Cut:  8 days after the emergency cut The Fed cuts the rate another 50 basis points.

February 13 - The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 is signed into law by the president.

February 29 - Philip becomes The Weakonomist when he registers Weakonomics.com with BlueHost.  No one notices.

March 14 - Bear Stearns Collapse:  Amid speculation of a liquidity problem (that means people thought they wouldn’t be able to sell their investments for cash) Bear Stearns stock falls from around $60 to $5.  The Fed and JP Morgan bail out the investment house in a series of events that will likely define the sub-prime meltdown of 2008.  This will be in textbooks someday.  Additional reading:  CNBC may be to blame for causing the run on Bear.

March 18 - Scheduled Fed cut:  Bernanke and team cut the funds rate another 75 basis points.

March 31 - Henry Paulson, Treasury Secretary, comes out of nowhere to recommend drastic changes to the regulatory policy of investments, mortgages, and the industries associated with it. 

April 15 - Tax day for everyone: Well, except for Wesley Snipes.

April 21 - National average price for a gallon of regular gas cross $3.50 in a move now considered to be the death of the large truck and SUV market.

April 30 - Most recent Fed cut:  The federal funds rate is again cut to bail out borrowers with adjustable rates.  The 25 basis point move has taken rates from 4.25% down to 2% in 4 months.

May 1 - The Weakonomist thinks it might have been worth his time negotiate the APR on his car as current deals are half what they were in January.  However, The Weakonomist still won’t pay more than $500 in interest over the life on the loan.

May 12 – Death of a Campaign: Hillary Clinton, in a desperate attempt to differentiate herself from Obama, supports the notion of suspending the 18.5 cent federal gas tax for the summer. The American public surprises The Weakonomist by seeing how stupid that really was.

May 13 – Congress introduces a bill to halt the purchase of oil for the strategic petroleum reserve.

June 2 - Wachovia cans their CEO for the poorly timed purchase of Golden West in 2006  - the 2nd largest seller of sub-prime mortgages.  Wachovia’s stock price looks like that really steep water slide you’re too scared to go down because you can’t injure yourself since your wife is too drunk to drive home from your “daycation” or “staycation” to the local water park because you can’t afford to drive out of state.  You go for it anyway, twisting your ankle, ripping your trunks, and showing your rear end to the entire water park.  Embarrassed, your children swear they will never speak to you again for not taking them to Disney World.  Your drunk wife flirts with the lifeguard.

June 9 - National average price for a gallon of regular gas passes $4.00.  The Geo Metro becomes popular again, defying all logic.  Commuters consider a switch to equidaen transportation but the price of grain has spiked with oil.

June 19 - Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin are arrested and paraded through New-York by the government on charges of fraud and conspiracy in their subprime mortgage hedge funds at Bear Stearns.

June 25 - CountryWide Financial shareholders approve the sale of their company for $4 billion to Bank of America.  A bargain considering the purchase would have cost $24 billion last year.  Compare to Wachovia’s purchase of Golden West in 2006, CountryWide’s smaller rival, which they paid $25 billion for and you can see why they had to dump their CEO in June.

Come back tomorrow for a little speculation on what I think will happen for the rest of 2008

Related posts:

1. Speculation for the 2nd Half of 2008
2. Weakonomics Best of 2008 Awards
3. Weakonomics Weekend Edition: Holy Terrible Week Batman
4. Weakonomics Weekend Edition
5. Bear Stearns sets a fine example

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