We saw the economy recover from the Dot Com and the 9-11 disaster. This gave a false sense of security when the economy recovered. Things went well all through the Bush Administration. All along there were misgivings about derivatives and calls were made for changes. However, people would ask, why fix something that is working? We know the answer to that one.
The 2006 elections gave Congress to the Democrats. The Democrats ignored the calls for change. They did not want to kill the golden goose of the derivatives market that brought in money for them. And the press destroyed for President Bush the power of the bully pulpit. Whatever he said would also be ignored.
Then, forces arose that were never experienced in the economy before. The economy collapsed like a house of cards which repeated the same events that occurred 100 years ago with the Banking Panic of 1907. Read up on that event and pay close attention to the activity called Bucket Shops. These were the equivalent to today's derivatives market. Study up folks.
While I agree that derivatives should be regulated, Gramm’s deregulations saved many banks from ruin with the real estate boom/bust.