Question

why was the recession that began in 2008 significant

Answer 1

The short answer is that it was incredibly devastating to the economy. Quite a lot of people lost everything from their savings to their job. Banks closed, the automobile industry in the US crashed, stocks sank taking with them a lot of peoples' savings...it was a chain reaction of events that rippled throughout the world. People were afraid it was going to lead to another Great Depression which would have been a lot worse.