"Recessions that are driven by a
collapse of the financial sector, balance sheet recessions as they are known,
are one of the most difficult types of recessions to recover from. That is
because the collapse of the financial sector does great damage to the balance
sheets of individual households. In the most recent recession, the typical
household lost a considerable amount of home equity when the price bubble
popped, stock values declined causing losses of retirement, education, and
other types of saving, and widespread unemployment and underemployment caused
households to use their accumulated saving just to survive month to month."
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/01/14/Why-Recovery-so-Agonizingly-Slow
