Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street Highlight

Worse still, the presumption of bailout made the banks more attractive to creditors, who continued to extend credit at prices that did not fully account for the risks that the banks were taking and, as a result, failed to provide the necessary market discipline to rein in excessive risk-taking. This “heads I win; tails the Government will bail me out” incentive system was still firmly in place.