Thankyou for this comment. The GFC is a complicated subject; there WAS a lot of reprehensible behavior, but it's often not correctly identified because people like simple problems with clear villains.
The history of Anglo-Irish Bank is an even more interesting story; Sean Quinn is one of the few bankers who was actually jailed, even if only for a short time.
- not in the end a loss (banks taken into government ownership eventually sold for about the acquisition price
- bank shareholders lost their money
- you don't want to see everything turned into Northern Rock bank runs