What frightful headlines on this pile of newspapers. Stocks are down due to over-speculation and investment bubbles. Peoples' retirement funds are in trouble. There's greed and fraud and a loss of confidence in the markets. Oh, I see that it's not this week's paper -- it's from a few years ago and it's all about the dot.com implosion and the Enron/Worldcom/Tyco scandals.

Here's another paper: Possibilities of a global meltdown because of turmoil in the overseas financial markets. A prominent hedge fund loses over $4 billion and needs to be bailed out by a deal brokered by the Fed. The Dow drops 554 points in one day creating panic, a drop in consumer spending and recession fears. That's 1997. Never mind.

More headlines -- many lending institutions have collapsed; the number of housing starts has dropped almost 50 percent; the government steps in with a bailout plan for the bankers and everyone wonders how big the budget deficits will be. Lots of reckless behavior and herd mentality and greed. Calls for more oversight. This still isn't 2008, it's from 1989 and the savings and loan crisis.

We know about the 1929 "Great Depression" and should remember the market crash of 1987, but there are lots of other headlines here that most Americans probably don't know much about. The "Long Depression" of 1873; the crisis of 1890; the Panics of 1837, 1857 and of 1907, when the banking system almost collapsed.

There was the Crisis of 1914, when the government shut down the New York Stock Exchange for four months to protect the price of gold. And of course there was the run on the Bailey Savings & Loan in the marvelous movie "It's a Wonderful Life" that George Bailey stepped in and prevented.

There seems to be at least a few commonalities in all those events. Greed and speculation are themes. Ditto for over-leveraging and corner cutting. Overly optimistic assumptions and beliefs. Over-expansion. Lack of oversight. People thinking they could get something for nothing or nearly nothing. People not thinking clearly.

Another commonality among all those economic crises is the resulting stronger hand of government to regulate and to try to prevent bad things from happening again. The Panic of 1907, for instance, resulted in the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. The Great Depression resulted in the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Enron/Tyco-type scandals led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Like the other economic crises we have weathered, this one will require courageous and tough choices. It will require sound thinking, open eyes and some shared sacrifice. And we need to ensure there is an appropriate balance between government regulation/oversight and at least the semblance of semi-free markets.

But we will get through this, hopefully with some new lessons both learned and acted upon so we don't have another crisis in 2018. To that end, I propose that our leaders on Wall Street and in Washington wear bracelets that say "WWGBD": What Would George Bailey Do?

Opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. Mike Hoban, of Crown Point, is a senior consultant for an international leadership development and training firm. Send mail to him c/o The Times, or e-mail him at business-at-large@sbcglobal.net.