The 2008 Global Financial Crisis

The 2008 Global Financial Crisis remains the most devastating financial crash since the Great Depression, triggered by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. It wiped out $17 trillion in U.S. household wealth, caused more than 10 million foreclosures, and required $700 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts for banks—many of which then paid executives millions in bonuses. This crisis stands above #2 on this list for instantaneous wealth destruction: within a single year, global stock markets lost over $30 trillion in value, far outpacing the three-year decline of 1929. The aftermath also led to the highest U.S. unemployment rate since the 1930s, peaking at 10% in October 2009, demonstrating a faster and wider contagion than the dot-com bust of 2000.