How severe will the next economic crisis be?

Depends on how (or when) it starts. As a society we have been pretty bad at predicting when and how sever economic crisis will happen.

@58539672 - This one is pretty clear. It will happen with QE4

@cludwig - Absolutely Clear? Well never mind then. Its not like people predict economic crashes every year with ever change in monetary policy by the Fed or any other organization. Im actually surprised that we are so able to predict economic crashes so accurately and yet we don't have everyone scrambling in the stock market picking the option that will get them the most cash. Why its almost as if they aren't completely caught off guard and are just choosing to lose all their money.

In all seriousness though, we have no idea if QE4 will bring about this "economic collapse" that you clam it will. The Fed seem to think it is a good idea. But when you get right down to it, their is no such thing as a guaranteed economic crash. If their was, steps could be taken long enough in advance for us to avoid or mediate it. Its the fact that these crashes are a surprise that makes them so deadly.

The reason why this crash will be big is because the Fed has been able to use interest rates to "print money" to pump air into various bubbles. For instance, before 2008 interest rates were at 3% or so (I might be off in my numbers). This time (2015/2016) is unique in that interests rates are at 0% and there has been no economic recovery. Simply put, the Fed cannot print money this time around; it has no method of dealing with a future economic crisis and cannot bail out Wall Street, the Bond Market or the Banks this time. The only thing the Government will be able to do to prevent a total collapse of the dollar this time round is to confiscate the personal wealth of Americans through taxation or a gold/silver seizure as took place during the Great Depression. It won't be pretty. Most experts are confident that there will never be a QE5 (the ship is going down).