The bursting of the South Sea Bubble in 1720 is regarded as the first modern financial crisis.
From Robert Whitcomb's "Digital Diary'' in GoLocal24.com:
In what could presage a horror movie, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, 70, commented the other day that another financial crisis like 2008’s was not likely “in our lifetime’’ because of banking and related reforms implemented in response to the crash.
Fasten your seatbelts when any leading figure in the money world says that things look safe. Consider the optimistic remarks of former Fed Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke before the 2008 crash; Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Walter Heller’s projections of steady growth and low inflation out to the horizon in the ‘60s, and famed economist Irving Fisher’s predictions, just before the Great Crash of 1929, that prosperity would continue indefinitely. The fact is that there are far too many variables in the world economy (and the universe) to make such predictions. Among them: war (including the current cyber war being waged by Russia againstthe West); disease, and natural disasters
