what was the worst financial crisis ever 
arguably the worst financial crisis in the last 90 years was the 2008 global financial crisis which sent stock markets crashing financial institutions into ruin and consumers scrambling the bottom linea financial crisis occurs when asset prices drop steeply businesses and consumers cannot pay their debts and financial institutions experience liquidity shortages various factors contribute to a financial crisis including systemic failures unanticipated or uncontrollable human behavior incentives to take excessive risks regulatory absence or failures or natural disasters such as pandemic viruses some of the historical examples of financial crises include tulip mania the credit crisis of 1772 the stock crash of 1929 the 1973 opec oil crisis the asian crisis of 1997 1998 and the 2008 global financial crisis 