It’s not that dark:

>When the Federal Reserve propped up A.I.G. in September 2008, unlike its approach with most of the big banks, it threw out the company’s chief executive and took control of 79.9 percent of the company, nearly wiping out many of its shareholders. Taxpayers got all of their money back, and then some, receiving a profit of more than $20 billion.

(https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/business/dealbook/surpris...)

Enacted since then, Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act sets up bailouts to be “forcing shareholders and creditors to bear the losses of the failed financial company, removing management that was responsible for the financial condition of the company (…)”.

AIG was not a bank; notice from your own quote how its treatment contrasted with how the banks were treated.

Actually, if you read Nissim Taleb, banks are the most fragile companies. They have capped upside (basically interest rate) , and indefinite downside.

In reality, they get bailed out. So there is no downside? They can literally do whatever the they want, get small fines, and if it all falls apart, we just give them more. How many bonuses got paid out of the bailout money?

Which of his books is this from?

The Black Swan, Second Edition. he added a chapter.