In October 2008, the government initiated the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), in an effort to slow down the financial crisis of 2007-2009. The original goal of the fund was to give the U.S Treasury the purchasing power to buy mortgage-backed securities, the troubled assets which were pointed to as the cause of the crises, in order to create liquidity.
Troubled assets can be defined as any residential or commercial mortgages, stocks and bonds, debt or other instruments, based on mortgages that originated or were issued on or before
Investment dictionary. Academic. 2012.