Let's go back real quickly to the year 2000.

Remember Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention that year?

Today, after seven and a half years of hard effort, we're in the midst of the longest economic expansion in history.

As the decade began, the economy was America's big success story. That's why

Al Gore, who was Clinton's vice president, made it such a big part of his own presidential campaign.

Here's Gore during a 2000 debate with George W. Bush, promising even more growth ahead.

22 million new jobs and the greatest prosperity ever, but it's not good enough.

And my attitude is you ain't seen nothing yet.

But the truth is that even then, the economy was starting to show some cracks.

In early 2000, the NASDAQ had taken a nosedive.

And on Wall Street, investors were trying not to panic, though some of them couldn't hide their frustration from reporters.

Bad day for you?

Another one, yeah.

Too many in a row.

The free fall was especially bad for tech startups, including Pets.com.

The company had become famous for its Talking Dog sock puppet mascot.

Did you know that Pets.com delivers food, treats, and toys?

Now, Pets.com had a wild ride.

It was launched in 1998 and soon raised more than $80 million.

The company was so successful, at least on paper, that in 2000, Pets.com could afford to buy

its own Super Bowl ad. But as 2000 went on and the dot-com bubble burst, the company ran out

of cash. By the fall, Pets.com had shut down altogether.

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