Haymarket Books

government spread the ideological message that the socialization or nationalization of banking had not happened, that banks unable to function without massive government supports were nonetheless still “private enterprises.” The government’s supports were always referred to as “temporary,” although no one could know how long each of them might be continued or whether and when they might need to be resumed.

Depression provoked congressional hearings that revealed extensive conflicts of interest and fraud committed by banks and their investment subsidiaries.

the height of the post-2007 crisis, major banks demanded and received massive government help on the basis of a threat. They were, they insisted, “too big to fail.” The idea seemed to be that letting them collapse or default would have such devastating consequences for the larger economy that the government had to help them “in the national interest.” The fallout from the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank was used as the perfect example of why such a “colossal mistake” could not be replicated. They used such arguments in public and congressional debates, eventually garnering trillions of dollars in government support.