The events which have contributed to it are the Mortgage Melt-down, wherein leading financial establishments in the U. S. are suffering losses of billions of dollars as a result of the devaluation of their investments in mortgages, the decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar versus the other world currencies that resulted from the government’s using up vast amounts of money in excess of what it collects from returns and profits due to the political pressure to spend the money of taxpayers, natural calamities such as Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, and the fight on terrorism. These things make the U.S. dollar lose value. Importing of products to the United States became more expensive. As a result, the purchasing power of Americans decreased greatly. Also, the government tends to lessen funding for health and social services as well as education due to insufficient returns. The value of real estate across the country is consistently diminishing as well. This is connected to the mortgage meltdown and the reality that many Americans have acquired debts which they cannot pay.

The real reasons and causes behind these events are yet to be uncovered. It is enough to say though, that truly, 2008 was a year of hard times.