Quick Comment on Optimal Bailout

I have repeatedly said over the last few weeks (and ten years) that bailing out the banks was not necessary to prevent a second Great Depression. While I think this is absolutely true for reasons I have laid out many times, let me make a couple of additional points.

I think a bailout that imposed stringent conditions on the financial industry, essentially requiring a downsizing and restructuring, would have been better than just letting the banks fail. That would have been the best possible o...