Remember that shitty, shitty Bankruptcy Bill the Bush administration pushed through Congress? It contained all kinds of awful pro-banker provisions, and prevented many middle class Americans from filing Chapter 7 and, instead, forced them into Chapter 13s whereby they're still on the hook for piles of debt.
WASHINGTON -- Economists at the New York Federal Reserve have concluded that a controversial 2005 law backed by banks and credit card companies pushed more than 200,000 people into foreclosure and exacerbated the subprime mortgage crisis.
Good job. So not only did it screw people on the way down, but it also held them down while the economy tanked.
By the way, I wish I could blame this one exclusively on the Republicans. Our current vice president voted for it, along with most of the Senate conservadems.