Why was there a crisis in the savings and loan industry in the early 1990s? how much money was lost and who paid for it?

The savings and loan (S&L) crisis actually began in the late 1980s and extended into the early 1990s.  It began as a result of investors withdrawing money from S&L institutions to put into higher interest money market funds.  In an effort to make S&L institutions more competitive, in 1982 President Ronald Reagan signed legislation reducing restrictions on how S&Ls did business.  In the years that followed, S&Ls pursued more and more risky investments, and plenty of corruption crept into their system as well.

By 1995, half of S&Ls in the country had failed.  Overall, the collapse cost $160 billion, of which taxpayers footed the bill for $132 billion.  The remaining portion was paid for by the S&L industry. 
The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) had paid $20 billion to persons who had deposits in failed S&Ls, before the FSLIC went bankrupt in 1989.

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