[jmeister]

A counterpoint and a reason for hope: After the 08 crisis, the big banks were required to keep aside a lot more money in reserves, agree to periodic stress tests by regulators, and forgo certain risky activities(proprietary trading).

Now regulators/management are pretty confident that the banking sector is robust and a 08 like crisis cannot happen again.

[jsanford9292]

I spent two years studying US regional banks and I can tell you that what you're saying is factually correct. 08 effectively nationalized the big banks. "Too big to fail" means any bank over a certain asset size will be rescued by the government if it gets into trouble. Basically, bankers get the upside if loans go well, taxpayers get the downside if they don't. The worst kind of nationalization. But the 08 regulations were so stringent that it would be very hard for banks to fail. Like you said. However, since that time, politicians decided that the regulations of 08 were too constricting to banks and were hurting small and medium biz growth. So a bipartisan coalition in Congress lifted the regulations for all banks <$250Bn asset size. Deregulation. So now, these bankers are free to chase profits without the chains from 08 and if their banks end up failing, we will still bail them out. The worst of both worlds.