There is no question that the "great recession" of 2008 was the worst crisis the western world has faced since the great depression of the 1930s. The financial world came very close to a total collapse. A great many homeowners suffered goreclosure as a result of predatory lending, many others simply walked away from their mortgages and an enormous number of homes lost value, even falling to below their morgage value. Thousands of investors lost value in their stock maket investments while others lost the value of complex financial instrument.