TARP? The Troubled Asset Relief Program, which spent $700 billion+ in taxpayers’ money to bail out banks after the financial crisis?
During the 2009 housing bubble Wall street was considered the heart and soul of free market capitalism, but when they were in danger of total collapse they fell on their knees as socialists, begging the government and tax payers to bail them out.
Banks began to do high risk gambling just like a big casino. The new financial tools were backed by the government so that taxpayers would get hung with the bill.
Support of this ungovernable, unregulatable, hyper concentrated new financial system exacerbated the greed and inequality that caused the 2009 crash, and forced Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk by financing default mortgage loans.
After the original $700 billion bailout, the ongoing bailout continued because no one went to jail and the government continued to bail them out.
There were no requirements attached to the bailout money - the banks could use it for any purpose.
It turns out that that $700 billion is just a small part of a much larger pool of money that has gone into propping up our nation’s financial system.
The banking industry is not afraid to continue these practices because they have convinced America they are "to big to fail".