There is no evidence of who lost money, and it very well could have been taxpayers through the various bailouts. There is also a significant societal loss when trust is no long assumed in transactions. In the US, you are fortunate that you can trust the money you get is not counterfeit, the documents you sign are legal and have force in court, the court’s officers are not bribeable, etc.

But if you start chipping away at this trust, it’s 10x harder to earn it back, and in my opinion, once it reaches a tipping point, enough people figure out its every man for himself and gaming the system snowballs irreversibly.

Then you have a system like many poor countries, where you have no idea when you could be dragged into court and bled dry because someone disputes your claims and you don’t have the political (bribes/connections) clout to defend yourself.