When I arrived in the United States from my second tour of the Middle East, the real estate bubble had already burst. I noticed a drastic change in the way many of my friends and family lived. Many of my friends who worked in real estate had sold their boats and second homes. My stock portfolio had lost a third of its value. My sister and her husband had defaulted on their home mortgage, leaving them struggling for a place to live. I saw greed as a huge factor fueling the housing crisis, but I didn't know which side was to blame. My sister and brother-in-law wanted more house than they could afford and the bank was willing to lend them more than they should. This crisis prompted the government to take action to avoid what many called the greatest financial crisis of our time. Although many experts suggest that an economic depression was imminent without the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), many of the funds were misused because investment banks did not recognize their risky investments, the funds were supposed to directly help consumers affected by the mortgage crisis, government financial support efforts have had minimal effect on the economy. The Troubled Asset Relief Program was created during the 2008 financial crisis. The purpose of the program was to purchase distressed assets from banks in the form of a low-interest loan and transfer ownership to the federal government in an effort to unfreeze credit and create liquidity. In exchange the government received non-voting ownership of the assets plus interest on the loan. Bad assets were a large number of mortgages and consumer loans converted into bonds secured by real estate or other property, in other words if the borrower defaulted on the loan, ... middle of paper .... ..nities. It has radical consequences that still persist. The economy is expected to recover from this financial crisis, but this has come at a high cost. Many in the world of finance are looking for new investment avenues and the next big thing. Many become greedy and repeat the cycle of failures of previous generations. Not many in the world of finance take these lessons to heart, even when they come at a high cost, and the government bailing them out doesn't help. Until our government and banking system recognize these flaws, the cycle of inflating and bursting bubbles will continue. Works Cited Boskin, Michael. “Time for plan B?” International Economics 23.3 (2009): 44-45.Business source completed. EBSCO. Network. September 13, 2011.Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: WWNorton, 2011. Print.