If what the author is stipulating is true, wouldn't banks have just written themselves a check during the 2008/9 crisis and never involved the President or Cong

If what the author is stipulating is true, wouldn't banks have just written themselves a check during the 2008/9 crisis and never involved the President or Congress? Basically a bank could avoid all crises by having enough global customers to offset risk they insert into each market. Yet, even global banks suffered during this crisis.