By the time I arrived stateside after my second Middle East tour, the housing bubble had already burst. I have noticed a drastic change in the way many of my friends and family live. Several of my friends who worked in real estate had sold their boats and second homes. My own stock portfolio had lost a third of its value. My sister and her husband had defaulted on their mortgage, leaving them scrambling to find somewhere to live. I saw that greed was a major factor fueling the housing crisis, but I didn't know which side it was. My sister and brother-in-law wanted a bigger house than they could afford, and the bank was willing to lend them more than they should have. This crisis has pushed the government to act to avert what many are calling 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 funds were misused because investment banks failed to recognize their risky investments. These funds should have directly helped consumers affected by the mortgage crisis. The government's financial relief efforts have had minimal effect on the economy. The Troubled Asset Relief Program was created during the 2008 financial crisis. The goal of the program was to purchase bad assets from banks in the form of a low-interest loan and transfer ownership to the federal government in an effort to unlock credit and create liquidity. In exchange, the government received non-voting ownership of the assets as well as interest on the loan. Bad assets were a large number of mortgages and consumer loans that were converted into bonds backed by real estate or other assets, in other words, if the borrower defaulted on their loan. ..... middle of paper.... ..nity. This has considerable consequences which still persist. The economy should recover from this financial crisis, but it has cost a lot of money. Many in finance are looking for new investment avenues and looking for the next big thing. Many become greedy and repeat the cycle of failures of previous generations. Few people in finance take these lessons to heart, even if they cost a lot of money, and having the government bail them out won't help. Until our government and banking system recognize these flaws, the cycle of bubbles swelling and bursting will continue. Works Cited Boskin, Michael. “Time to move on to plan B?” » International Economy 23.3 (2009): 44-45. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Internet. September 13, 2011. Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: WWNorton, 2011. Print.