What happened during the recession of 1990-91 was cyclical in nature. The international banking, fiscal and monetary collapses, which sparked what nearly became a global depression in 2007, were not cyclical in nature at all. As for who hand a hand in it, count George W. Bush, Alan Greenspan, the U.S. Congress, the heads of the major banks in the U.S. and Europe and the heads of any number of European governments, et al. Bad policy making, and bad decisions along the way, made what could have been a relatively mild recession and credit event nearly catastrophic.
This wasn't like a random bolt of lightning or an act of God. This one had lots of fingerprints all over it.