@maxerickson has a valid response, but there is a larger story here. Consider hidden bailouts and also consider the unfairness of such hidden bailout. I would

@maxerickson has a valid response, but there is a larger story here. Consider hidden bailouts and also consider the unfairness of such hidden bailout. I would argue that the bailout was indeed much larger. For example, the Fed started buying distressed mortgage bonds via Quantitative Easing, QE2, and POMO. Should the Fed purchase an asset that is trading at 27 cents on the dollar for 60 cents? That seems unfair...it was a hidden bailout. Imagine you buy a house for $500,000, the value goes down to $150,000. The government, instead of paying $155,000 pays you $450,000. That sounds like an "open market transaction" but it is a gift, a bailout just by another name. Unfortunately they didn't do that with homes, they did it with mortgage bonds and CDOs, which meant that most of the gifts went to a small sector of society in lower Manhattan and around Greenwich Connecticut.