The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and early
1990s produced the greatest collapse of U.S. financial
institutions since the Great Depression. Over the
1986–1995 period, 1,043 thrifts with total assets of over
$500 billion failed. The large number of failures overwhelmed
the resources of the FSLIC, so U.S. taxpayers
were required to back up the commitment
extended to insured depositors of the failed institutions.
As of December 31, 1999, the thrift crisis had
cost taxpayers approximately $124 billion and the
thrift industry another $29 billion, for an estimated
total loss of approximately $153 billion. The losses
were higher than those predicted in the late 1980s,
when the RTC was established, but below those forecasted
during the early to mid-1990s, at the height of
the crisis.
Plus 1.16 billions in judgments against the US government, not counting the untold wealth lost in the early 1990s real estate crash. Remember the Japanese lost their asses on such assets as Pebble Beach, First Interstate Building in LA and Rockerfeller center in NYC, not to forget La Costa Spa and the Emerald tower in Downtown San Diego. Remember the 4-seasons in La Costa? The Japanese stopped funding it so it stood as a shell in the landscape for years.
