Mortgage failures and bankruptcies surge. A record $7.3 trillion of stock market value is obliterated. Retail sales slump sharply. The wheels come off the American automobile industry. Banks and corporations report record losses. Unemployment spikes to 7.2 percent. The federal budget deficit swells to $1.186 trillion.

Get answers from our professors at a public forum on the U.S. economy 6 p.m. Jan. 26 in Atwood Ballroom.