You run the bailout through bankruptcy courts. The businesses are often normally profitable, so a debt-for-equity swap works for turning bankrupt businesses int

You run the bailout through bankruptcy courts. The businesses are often normally profitable, so a debt-for-equity swap works for turning bankrupt businesses into operating businesses of some sort. There might be chains of bankruptcies where you have to cram down creditors-of-creditors, but that's the risk they took in these sorts of markets. Worst case there are power plants and other electric infrastructure that someone needs to operate, and that can be bought outright from bankrupt companies at fair value as a matter of public policy.