They should have let the whole thing unwind in late 08. Several problems would have been solved all at once but Paulson was able to convince Bush the future of humanity was at stake.
Right now all financial power in this country is consolidated in Manhattan. Crony capitalism has worked very well for those guys.
Don’t forget, a majority of Democrats in a dem majority Congress voted for the bailouts.
A minority of Republicans did.
You are correct, if institutions are not allowed to fail they will repeat bad behavior, allowed to fail they will naturally correct.
That being said, my sister who is a town clerck has railed about the chain of custody of these documents for years and predicted this in ‘08 during the meltdown. She also contends tha many of the original documents will never be found, bottom line, many deadbeats will walk away with their homes debt free.
Makes one kinda feel stupid playing by the rules.