>bailed out the banks In the 1930s, the bank stockholders were wiped out (equity set to zero), and they started over. In the 2008 crisis, bank stockholders we

>bailed out the banks In the 1930s, the bank stockholders were wiped out (equity set to zero), and they started over. In the 2008 crisis, bank stockholders were "bailed out". The value of their shares did not go to zero. The people who owned the bank before still owned it after. That is the difference between 401(k) accounts taking a 30% haircut and the bank stockholders retaining ownership of insolvent banks. When the media talks about "too big to fail", they mean "too big to have stockholders wiped out and have the government recapitalize them". Supposedly it sounds too much like socialism. It is really regulatory capture at its finest.