The Republicans are claiming they foresaw the current mess years ago. Why did they not fix it?

I have almost been baiting them to get them to commit. But now I am ready to ask more. Some trace this back to FDR. How was it possible to foresee this seventy plus years ago? Some say the Democrats pushed deregulation through. How when Lindsy Grahm pushed it, McCain voted for it, and the Republicans controlled congress from 1995-2006? Some say Jimmy Carter. How? Carter left office twenty-eight years ago. Finally how did they fail to do anything when they controlled the White House eight years? Congress six of the eight? And have dominated the White House for twenty-eight of the last forty years? If they foresaw it why did they not fix it?