But this is also not entirely true. Banks did not know they were taking a huge risk. They did not understand how leveraged they actually were because securitize

But this is also not entirely true. Banks did not know they were taking a huge risk. They did not understand how leveraged they actually were because securitized mortgages were being misrepresented by credit rating agencies[0]. The entire purpose of TARP was to prevent a depression. It was meant to be a stopgap. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies_and_the_subprime_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agencies_and_the...