See a timeline of the US government's investments and restructuring efforts of General Motors following the Great Recession.

Read what professors at Harvard Business School think led to General Motors' 2009 bankruptcy.

After delisting and going private for nearly two years in the midst of the Great Recession, General Motors went public for the second time in 2010 in what was then the largest IPO in history.

In 1919, General Motors created the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) to offer car loans and payment plans, revolutionizing America's relationship with debt by offering one of the very first buy now, pay later programs.

After being the country's largest automaker by sales volume for nearly 100 years, Toyota surpassed General Motors as the top automobile manufacturer in the US—representing a shift in the American economy that once heavily depended on domestic manufacturing.

Track how much the US government has spent on bailouts.

Listen to the story of how General Motors beat out the Ford Motor Company to become the largest car manufacturer by 1931.

Listen to a reflection on General Motors' role in American life.

See a timeline of important moments in General Motors' history, including its early automatic innovations in creating electrical systems in cars and the birth of the American muscle car in 1964.

Commonly referred to as the 'bank bailout,' the Troubled Asset Relief Program disbursed $443B in an attempt to keep the financial system solvent.

Owning a large catalog of brands with distinct purposes and customer bases helped General Motors overtake Ford Motor Company as America's leading car manufacturer, something that still sets the company apart today.

Although he didn't create General Motors, Alfred Sloan is widely credited with GM's massive success and is often considered one of the best American businessmen of all time.

Before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in 2008 with more than $600B in debt, the Federal Reserve tried to orchestrate a private deal to save the then-fourth-largest investment bank in the US.

Abandoned Detroit: the decline of America's car mecca

Learn about how General Motors dismantled America's streetcars

After investing more than $10B in less than 10 years, General Motors abandoned its controversial robotaxi development efforts in 2024.

American International Group, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, received $182B from the federal government—the largest of any bailout in the wake of the Great Recession.

During one large strike, 9,000 General Motors workers walked out for 54 days in 1998 over management's decision to hire outside contractors for equipment removal and fears of widespread job losses.

The Federal Reserve fought the Great Recession primarily with quantitative easing and repurchasing agreements.

In February 2014, General Motors recalled more than 2.6 million cars—part of a record 30 million vehicles it recalled that year—over faulty ignition switches that had caused multiple deaths, ultimately costing the company more than $4B in repair costs, victim compensation, and other expenses.

Mary Barra became the first female CEO of General Motors in 2014, making her the first woman to hold the office in the largely male-dominated automobile industry overall.

Auto and consumer goods companies absorbed billions in costs due to President Trump's 2025 tariffs.

To avoid a total collapse of the housing market, the US government took control of the two leading mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In 2023, the United Auto Workers launched the 'Stand Up Strike,' a six-week strike against all of the 'Big Three' automakers, to bargain for cost-of-living pay increases, end a tiered workforce structure, and more.

In March 2008, Bear Stearns was the first major bank to collapse in the Great Recession—leading to panic across the entire global financial system.

Listen to a recap of Alfred Sloan's autobiography, titled 'My Years with General Motors.'

BlackRock played an integral role in the Federal Reserve's response to the Great Recession, managing about $30B of hard-to-sell Bear Stearns assets on behalf of the New York Fed.

General Motors President Charles Wilson is often quoted as saying, 'What's good for General Motors is good for America,' in 1953—but a closer examination of the records reveals a different message.

Many retail investors exited the stock market after 2008, leading to a drop in individual market participation

Porsche briefly made Volkswagen the most valuable company in the world in 2008

A private equity firm led the leveraged buyout of Toys 'R' Us before the company's bankruptcy

Despite founding General Motors, one of the most successful car companies in the world, William Durant lost his multimillion-dollar fortune before he died.

Longtime General Motors CEO Alfred Sloan used the motto 'a car for every purse and purpose' to represent the value of having multiple car brands with different target audiences under one company.

In 1965, consumer advocate Ralph Nader released 'Unsafe At Any Speed,' a scandalous exposé on the risks of cars, prompting backlash from leading automakers including General Motors, which gave way to some of the earliest automobile regulations.

Nearly 70% of the US government's debt is domestic.

Wealthy Americans are keeping car dealerships afloat

If the US government paid off its debt, it could disrupt the entire bond market, as Treasury bonds are among the most common bonds for investors and the majority of the national debt is in bonds.

Every year, nearly 500,000 bankruptcies are filed in the US.

Treasury bonds, notes, and bills are critical vehicles for the federal government to raise money for public expenses and manage the national debt.

Tesla open-sourced all its patents to speed up industry adoption of electric vehicles

Investors collectively owned $28T in US Treasury securities as of 2025.

Passed in 2010 in the fallout of the Great Recession, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was the most significant financial reform since the Great Depression.

Federal subsidies have boosted US fracking profits

US homeownership rates declined from the start of the Great Recession through 2016.

Before the Great Recession, lax requirements to get a mortgage resulted in mass defaults that left nearly 19 million homes vacant.

Investment banking giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 when it had $619B in debt, making it the largest bankruptcy ever in the US

See the growth of US consumer debt

The Great Depression is one of history's most notable periods of deflation

Watch former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler's 'Eras Tour' for the agency's 90th anniversary, a look back on the pivotal moments in the agency's history.

The US unemployment rate soared to over 24% during the Great Depression, the highest in recorded history.

The federal government pumped $70 billion into transit amidst reduced ridership during the COVID pandemic