[A4ET8a8uTh0]

<< So a bailout is when the rules are changed so that some people get to keep money that they otherwise would have lost (or would not have gotten). I'm onboard with that.

I would say that bailout is a bailout is a bailout. No need for conditionals here. Most people instinctively know the bank would not survive without government intervention.

<< But then the PPP and pandemic payments were bailouts, too - a bailout isn't necessarily a "bad" thing, right?

You may be assuming something about me that I did not say. I am not sure what PPPs were exactly, but at its core, they were bailouts too ( or at least that was their intended purpose ).

<< what is the rule / policy / threshold that solves the problem better than "everyone affected by the problem gets the same full deposit insurance"?

The rule is really simple: follow the policy you claim to follow. Otherwise some may think you are lying all the time.