(FORTUNE Magazine) – 1. 9.11 That the World Trade Center attacks could leave New York City $100 billion in the red seems oddly beside the point. They destroyed thousands of lives and livelihoods, shattered our nation's sense of security, and plunged us into war.

2. The Recession With the market melting down, consumer confidence evaporating, and joblessness rising, not even Alan Greenspan's ten rate cuts--and another expected this month--could stave off recession. At least you lived to see the biggest boom ever. Now wave bye-bye.

3. The Enron Implosion Thanks to the energy trader's dubious bookkeeping, Ken Lay went from running a $101 billion company to presiding over the biggest bankruptcy in history.

4. California's Energy Crisis As energy became scarce, the state instituted rolling blackouts and spent $11 billion to bail out PG&E and SoCal Edison. While conservation stabilized soaring prices, the crisis--plus the Enron collapse--left the deregulation movement in tatters.

5. Wall Street Analysts Henry Blodget and Mary Meeker were the poster children for Wall Street hype. But this was the year investors, burned by analysts' stock picks, stopped believing and started suing and booing.

6. Team Bush No one expected much from the President and his advisors on foreign policy. The focus was supposed to be domestic policy, like the tax cut. Sept. 11 turned that around. Bush has emerged as a strong war leader, but his legacy could still depend upon reviving the economy.

7. Telecom Meltdown If you think this Lucent office looks empty, ask one of the company's employees about his 401(k). The entire industry suffered stupefying losses thanks to bad investments and wishful thinking.

8. China Being selected to host the 2008 Summer Olympics wasn't the country's only big win. After years of tense negotiation, China gained entry to the World Trade Organization.

9. Microsoft Why is Bill Gates smiling? Maybe because his Teflon tech firm slipped a Justice Department noose, shook an avalanche of bad press, launched the XP operating system, and unveiled the coveted Xbox game console.

10.Ford Chairman Bill Ford ousted bare-knuckled CEO Jacques Nasser after a year of nightmarish PR, pricey foreign investments that left the company scrounging for cash, and lawsuits that ended the nearly century-old relationship between Ford and Firestone. The scion has a tough road ahead.