I doubt it. Don't forget: consumer bank balances were generally protected by government guarantee, so ‘people would have lost all their money without the bailou

I doubt it. Don't forget: consumer bank balances were generally protected by government guarantee, so ‘people would have lost all their money without the bailout’ just isn’t true. Bailing out these failing for-profit businesses—privatising profits and socialising losses—is a moral hazard. That is unfair and bad for competition. But there is more than that. Even if the money was apparently eventually repaid, like in the UK, then even if you ignore inflation, this had a huge opportunity cost. The money could have been put to good use, but instead the public debt ratcheted up, which became an excuse for austerity.