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Why? We got into this mess because the banks couldn't manage the risk and we had to bail them out.

Banks got into it because the government was guaranteeing it.

Make a loan, collect the fee, dump the junk on the tax payer.

Government enabled and subsidized this. And still does. Home loan deductions, anybody?

We didn't have to "bail them out". We should have let them go chapter 11. Plenty of folks with responsible finances could have bought up the assets.

It happened to banks outside the US, where they weren't guaranteed (but did get bailed out).