I think most "crisis" are developed for election marketing and grifting.

Horrible situation such'n'such is an existential threat! Vote for me or give me money to save all of humanity!

The other side of it lately has been creating crisis that divide and conquer society. Most of the "crisis" in the past several years have been terribly polarized. Keeping people divided stops them from focusing on the real issues that politicians can't/won't tackle, and it prevents them from uniting against politicians/corporations/etc.