too big to fail
Collapse threatens everyone
Too big to fail describes an institution—usually a bank or corporation—so large and interconnected that its collapse would devastate the broader economy, compelling governments to rescue it.
The phrase gained currency during the 2008 financial crisis when major banks received bailouts: Critics argued the bailouts rewarded reckless behavior by institutions deemed too big to fail.
The concept implies a troubling asymmetry: profits stay private while catastrophic losses become public responsibility.
- bank bailoutEmergency funds for failing lenders
- bailoutEmergency aid preventing bankruptcy
- financial crisisSevere economic system breakdown
- economic collapseCatastrophic failure of finances
- moral hazardConsequence-free risk-taking incentive
taxpayer money · skin in the game · contagion · domino effect · AIG · credit crunch · monopoly · systemic risk · nationalization · lender of last resort · risk management · go bust · financialized · interconnectedness · living will · corporation · investment banks · wealth inequality
- money jokesbroke jokes, poor jokes, stock jokes, loan shark, bubble burst
- US bankingFDIC, Fed, national banks, bank runs, bank failures
- Corporate Powerlobbying, lobbyist, lobbyists, monopoly, oligarchy
- economic problemsmarket failure, recession, inflation, deflation, stagflation
- Financial Crisisfinancial crisis, Great Recession, recession, credit crisis, bank failures
- Bank Failuresbank failure, bank closure, bank run, insolvency, receivership
too big to failexpendable
Able to be sacrificed
insignificant · small fry · negligible · inconsequential · dispensable
too big to faildispensable
Able to be sacrificed
replaceable · vulnerable · precarious · fragile · at-risk