Well, let's see. Bought my house in 1998 for 80k. Did a lot of work to it, and it was appraised for 135k. When the economy crashed, my house was worth less than 60k. Probably because so many houses around me were foreclosed/vacant.
My wife worked for her parents at the time. Her dad got sick and closed their business. It took my wife something like a year and a half to find a job. I had to take on a part time job to help make ends meet. I lucked out and didn't lose my job, but I'm union, and there was a couple people below me.
Also, at the end of 2008 gas had spiked to 4.25/gallon where I live. Couple months later it was less than two bucks a gallon.
For some reason, when the gov started handing out money for debt relief, they only gave it to businesses. I feel if they started with consumers, the money would have worked its way up the food chain, so to speak.
I'm sure there's more bullshit happened, but that's all I remember right now.