If banks weren't run by people but were some kind of natural phenomenon, like say a mineral you can find in the ground, then we wouldn't be able to blame them.

If banks weren't run by people but were some kind of natural phenomenon, like say a mineral you can find in the ground, then we wouldn't be able to blame them. Instead we'd blame ourselves for being foolish enough to risk our money with them. That's what we've done, we've trusted banks with our retirement savings and what-not but didn't do our due diligence. If they also provide some good that we really want, then probably governments would regulate our use of them. Just as is done with oil, certain controlled plant species, etc. The problem is that governments don't all regulate bank use well enough to prevent chain reaction problems and customers aren't competent to make those risk assessments themselves.