Another week, another depressing economic statistic: American families earning the median household income had two decades’ worth of prosperity wiped out between 2007 and 2010.

This statistic, boiled down from 80 pages of dense analysis in the triennial Survey of Consumer Finances by economists at the Federal Reserve, suggests that the housing bubble was more like a housing bomb: When it burst, it took a lot of people with it.

That conclusion hardly is startling. What is startling is the damage assessment. A family right in the middle of U.S. taxpayers – half earned more, half earned less – had a net worth of $126,400 in 2007. By 2010, the family was worth $77,300, roughly what it was worth in 1992. Median income also was down, from $49,600 in 2007 to $45,800.

Hardest hit were the “young middle-age” families, those headed by people ages 35 to 44. Their median net worth fell 54 percent to $42,100 in 2010.

Of course, the housing collapse affected wealthier homeowners, too. But because such people are more likely to own other forms of wealth, the impact on them was less grave. The equities markets largely have recovered; the housing and jobs markets haven’t.

Naturally, all bad news these days is filtered through the prism of the presidential race. Democrats and Republicans have tried to lay the blame at the other party’s doorstep.

In truth, both parties were silent as the housing and credit bubbles expanded during the 1990s and early 2000s. The country was awash in credit, times were good, taxes were cut, financial regulations were relaxed, deficits were ignored, wars were put on the tab.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but blame never fixed anything. Smart, honest cooperation and hard work might. But that must wait until after the election, if it comes at all.