Sympathy for the Bankers?

On the one hand, you can make a plausible argument that the government has just encouraged bankers to take inappropriate risks. On the other hand: only the depositors–not the investors or the bank management– were bailed out; the bank’s errors look more like negligence and ineptitude than excessive, out-of-control greed; and is it really fair to expect depositors to know how their bank is investing their funds?

To me, the decisive point is that America is way too fragile, given the pandemic, January 6, a potential Trump indictment, and the pending debt ceiling crisis, to tolerate a series of failing banks. Based on the totality of the circumstances, I think the bailout was the right decision.