Some differences then and now according to this author:
* After Black Monday, President Ronald Reagan did not get on television and tell the American people not to panic, as George W. Bush foolishly did in September 2008
* We were led by better people, many of them children of the Depression or veterans of World War II or people who had exhibited steady hands in the Cold War. There was no advisor to a U.S. president with giant nanny state ambitions.
* U.S. government did not add to the uncertainties that paralyze investment and consumption during past recessions. The waning days of George W. Bush and the first 14 months of Barack Obama, on the other hand, have done little else but pile on the uncertainties.
I remember Reagan going on television after the 1987 crash. Perhaps the difference was Reagan had credibility in economic matters.
A few issues....
Legislation in the late 1990s gave us an unregulated derivatives market and allowed banks to go beyond deposit taking and stable lending. Congress then gave financial houses a license to debt when they lifted leverage limits.
Toss in the Fed’s attempts to control the market with free money and no oversight on how banks are operating and away you go.