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by nabla9 1188 days ago
> nationalize the big banks.

That would be a good idea. If bank is too big to FDIC to absorb and "too big to fail" and it fails it becomes Treasury owned overnight.

For example Paul Krugman agrees. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23krugman.html

>What Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, and a staunch defender of free markets, actually said was, “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring.” I agree.

>The case for nationalization rests on three observations.

>First, some major banks are dangerously close to the edge — in fact, they would have failed already if investors didn’t expect the government to rescue them if necessary.

>Second, banks must be rescued. The collapse of Lehman Brothers almost destroyed the world financial system, and we can’t risk letting much bigger institutions like Citigroup or Bank of America implode.

>Third, while banks must be rescued, the U.S. government can’t afford, fiscally or politically, to bestow huge gifts on bank shareholders.

... >Still, isn’t nationalization un-American? No, it’s as American as apple pie.