During the 2008 financial crisis, our government conceived TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) to purchase toxic assets from financial institutions as a means to find a way out of the subprime mortgage debacle. Although the program was widely ridiculed at the time, by 2012 over 97% of the funds had been repaid to the Treasury and the overall investment stayed within budget and never exceeded 1% of GDP. Hopefully we’ve learned the necessary lessons and subsequent stabilization regulation will prevent a repeat of the near meltdown.