In fact, Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, considers the Great Recession to have been worse than the Great Depression, according to this CNN article. As major financial institutions threatened insolvency and confidence in the U.S. banking system collapsed, billions of taxpayer dollars were funneled into so-called "bailouts" of companies deemed "too big to handle." going bankrupt,” while 1.2 million homes were foreclosed on, as reported in the report. NBC News. The U.S. recovery since 2009 has done little to ease the financial woes of poorer Americans. According to the Pew Research Center, between 2009 and 2011, the richest 7% of Americans saw their net worth increase by 28%, while the poorest 93% actually saw their net worth increase.. 4%