“Banks and companies are allowed to fail (in the 80’s FORCED to fail!) if they are in Oklahoma or Texas.”
Correct! I was an investor in a houston bank at the time...20th largest in US. Out it went but of course, Continental of Illinois was kept alive albeit they were both exposed to the same energy bust. All bondholders in CI were made whole and depositors, even those above the 100K insurance at the time were paid in full. Remnents of the bank were later bought by BofA from the Fed.
Did they buy Penn Square paper like Continental did?
IIRC Nixon let the Penn Central fail in the seventies because of managerial and union incompetence. In the twenty-first century Washington rewards managerial and union incompetence because our government, elected and bureaucratic, promotes both.