> These entities are "too big to fail". They are so essential to the economy that the best you can hope for from the government is maybe a scapegoat going to a comfortable prison or a hefty fine.
Norway faced a banking crisis in the 90s; to solve it, the government simply invalidated the shares and took control of the bank.[1] The government later reprivatized it - i.e. sold new shares - once it was no longer failing.
That seems a pretty okay approach for entities that are too big to fail: let the shareholders, not the public, pay the price of failure.
(You need a sufficiently strong government to do it, obviously.)
Norway faced a banking crisis in the 90s; to solve it, the government simply invalidated the shares and took control of the bank.[1] The government later reprivatized it - i.e. sold new shares - once it was no longer failing.
That seems a pretty okay approach for entities that are too big to fail: let the shareholders, not the public, pay the price of failure.
(You need a sufficiently strong government to do it, obviously.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiania_Bank