Too Big to Fail Banks

The cluster discusses the 'too big to fail' concept applied to banks, focusing on moral hazard, government bailouts during crises like 2008, and debates over regulation, splitting banks, or allowing failures to prevent systemic risks.

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4,062
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#8150
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
111
2009
142
2010
121
2011
162
2012
99
2013
156
2014
120
2015
116
2016
235
2017
176
2018
199
2019
202
2020
327
2021
264
2022
226
2023
1,049
2024
172
2025
174
2026
11

Keywords

US HAS FTX youtube.com BigCloud AIG i.e ycombinator.com ALL big fail banks fail bank big banking regulation bail financial bailed

Sample Comments

FredPret Aug 6, 2023 View on HN

Unless the bank is too big to fail

verisimi Mar 15, 2022 View on HN

Good question!But I'm not sure bankers want it to work like that - see financial crisis, Greece, "too big to fail".

dijit Oct 20, 2025 View on HN

I thought we didn't like when things were "too big to fail" (like the banks being bailed out because if we didn't the entire fabric of our economy would collapse; which emboldens them to take more risks and do it again).

atdrummond Mar 12, 2023 View on HN

Banks are too big to fail - until they aren’t.

docker_up Sep 11, 2018 View on HN

Yes, you do. If they are by definition too big to fail, then them shutting down could cause runs on banks. When people's confidence in banks crashes, then very bad things happen to our financial system which is predicated on the idea of people keeping their money in banks and bank accounts.Even people pulling their money out of money market mutual funds almost caused a collapse of the monetary system, which is why the Fed had to secure those.

Animats Dec 30, 2024 View on HN

Because "too big to fail" produces moral hazard. Followed by bailouts. Like 2008.

linksnapzz Apr 29, 2023 View on HN

A bank too big to fail, is also too big to exist.

mbrubeck Oct 16, 2009 View on HN

Splitting up the banks won't eliminate the "too big to fail" problem. If a systemic crash (like the one last year) causes hundreds of smaller banks to fail, there will be just as much pressure to bail them out as if one giant bank fails.

mandelbrotwurst Jun 15, 2021 View on HN

If the government deems all banks “too big to fail”, does that remove the risk?

kijin May 6, 2012 View on HN

Well, we know what happens when something becomes "too big to fail", don't we?