The economic history of the United States is riddled with financial crises and banking panics.  During the nineteenth-century, eight major such episodes occurred.  In the period following World War II, some believed that these crises would no longer happen, and that the U.S. had reached a time of everlasting financial stability and sustainable growth.  The Savings and Loans Crisis of the 1980s, the 2001 dot-com bust and the 2007 housing bubble that led to the current global financial crises demonstrate that these phenomena are still reoccurring.  Regulators and policy makers should keep aware of the recurrence of such crises.