That comparison makes no sense. We didnt pay off the bank's debt. It was a temporary loan from the government and every penny was paid back. In addition the government, and tax payers, benefited enormously from the interest accrued.
Free markets would have let the banks fail. Instead we’ve created a world with champions for free markets for trade, free markets for labor, but protected markets for capital. Absolute self-serving hypocrisy. FDIC was designed to protect the little guy. The bailouts protected the richest americans and excellerrated the growing inequality in this country.
I believe in capitalism, but 2008 was the crony variety. It still angers me thinking about watching the crying pundits talk about risk on monitors next to Americans taking real risks in Iraq. The bailouts were bipartisan fraud at a grand scale and epitomize the corruption of establishment politics and the revolving door between government and the private sector. But sure, “americans got paid back with interest.” Believe it if you want to.
[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/are-banks-borrowing-fro...
Because the government was afraid failing banks would take everything else with them.
The problem was banks were allowed to become too large and to sell risk to each other. If I were running things I'd break them all up into regional entities and separate them financially.