This financial crisis is the worst in xx years.?

How can there be so many different numbers for this?

Someone says it's worst in 30 years.

A news just said it's worst in almost 80 years. (Must refer to the great depression.)

So if you have to input this number, what is it?

And how can someone explain that this crisis is worse or better than

great depression or any other recession?This financial crisis is the worst in xx years.?
That depends on what you're measuring.



We've had major market issues in the 30s, 62, 73, 87, 98, 2001 and now.



Some were less, some were more impactful in "real" dollars (adjusted for time and current market value).





The financial impact is real. The toolkit available to fight the problem is much broader and deeper than in the past, though.

This financial crisis is the worst in xx years.?
year 2011 is crucial.This financial crisis is the worst in xx years.?
At the moment it's the share holders who are 'suffering' the most ..



Those who took the NINJA loans have already spent the money .. those who have deposits in the banks are safe .. but every time a Government 'nationalises' a Bank the share holders are wiped out ... (it's amazing that any Bank share is worth more than zero ..)



To avoid falling into the hands of the government banks are drastically cutting their 'exposure' to bad debt by refusing to lend to each other .. and reducing the loans given to other businesses and 'Joe Public' ..



Right now 'Joe Public' still hasn't understood what is happening .. all they see is that getting a Mortgage is becoming more difficult .. .. the fact is, the Banks 'bankroll' :-)' the entire economy .. and as loans get tighter for businesses, some businesses will start to fail ..



Many businesses operate right on the edge of a Cash Flow disaster .. they rely on their bank overdrafts to pay their workers whilst waiting for money to come in from their customers .. even the slightest delay (eg Bank decides to 're-examine' their overdraft and holds payments for a week) could mean they fail to meet the payroll .. and go bust ..



To prevent this, every business will already be looking to cut their overdraft needs .. this means drastic cost cutting, and for most companies, their workforce is their biggest cost..



SO, is it 'worse than XX' ??



YES IT WILL BE = in the past, MOST people operated on a 'cash in hand' basis .. these days, most people operate on Credit (Cards) ... already people are starting to see their monthly repayments go up and their maximum Credit Card limits reduced ..



Soon some businesses will start charging more if you pay by Credit Card, and others, worried that the bank may go bust, may refuse to accept some Cards ..
Excellent answer by Steve B.



If I may add, this one will be the worst yet due to the enormous numbers. In 1929, for example, the DOW hit approx 333 and tanked down to 42 in 1932. Yes, I said 42.



Contrast that to where we were last summer at over 14,000 and now we've plummeted past 9,500. It's just an indicator but it's a reflection of the economy. The numbers that the Fed has dished out has been a little over $3 trillion for liquidity since May 2007 and they're still running the printing presses.



The reason the banks aren't already at zero is because the SEC isn't allowing shorting of them. That may be released today, and if it is, watch just how fast the banks fall in share price. The hedge funds are gonna go in for the kill and naked short them if possible.



Iceland's about to file a national bankruptcy. All of Europe and Australia are freaking. Indonesia shut their market down indefinitely 3 hours ago.



This one's gonna be the grand daddy of them all due to the huge numbers.