So in this case "screwing investors" basically amounts to destroying the life savings of the elderly.
I don't see an alternative short of massive regulation (that essentially removes them from the stock market completely and move them into a government service; that'll still be done when they've burned down), because I see it more like a slow moving infection that starts in a toe. We've missed the right moment to amputate and only lose that toe, we've missed the moments for all the other toes on that foot as well, and the whole foot is beyond saving now.
It sucks to lose a foot, but waiting and consuming massive amounts of pain killers to be able to hobble along just means that it's going to be the whole leg next year. The best time to interfere was on the first try to socialize the losses. The second best time is now.
I guess my sincere question here would be whether or not you'd be opposed to bailing out social security if it were in the same boat for whatever reason.
A possible answer is that people still believe risk-free 5%+ YoY returns is perfectly normal because of purely historical reasons and disregarding the current economic realities (growth rates) of the world. Considering the current demographics in many developed economies it's just not going to happen! How about bailing out their pensions instead of the companies?
Equity markets are not supposed to be so timid that they hide behind the skirts of grandma and cling to grandpa's legs. The picture is more like they're holding a gun to your grandparents' heads. I'd look into a one-time stimulus program that recaps just those elderly's retirement accounts to decouple equity markets' hostage-taking of a vulnerable section of the population, move the interest rate to a level that re-kindles the bond market's retirement linkage, and let the capitalists sort out a real capital market.
I'm done with so many companies boasting they're uber-capitalists, but multiple times in my life they avail themselves of taxpayer-backed funding for loan terms I'd never in my dreams get as a private individual or small business. And they just did it again.