I liked this definition of what a bailout is, which meshes with mine but puts it in better words, via Dan Davies on today's Odd Lots podcast:

> "When the state steps in and provides insurance so that something economically destructive doesn't happen."

Yeah, like I said, this is the disconnect. Assume for a moment that magic does exist. Maybe aliens come to Earth and hands the government a stack of gold from outside the solar system worth exactly that much, which the government uses to pay for the bank’s issues and nothing else, and then the aliens leave promising to never return. If that happens, it didn’t cost taxpayers anything, so it can’t be called a bailout, since bailouts necessarily cost the taxpayers. Except in another sense it is obviously a bailout, the aliens literally flew in from outer space and bailed out the bank and the government.

So a bank bailout is when an outside party pays to solve the issue, and a bailout is also when taxpayers foot the bill. If taxpayers do not foot the bill for SVB in any appreciable way, is it a bailout?

> "When the state steps in and provides insurance so that something economically destructive doesn't happen."

So the FDIC existing is a bailout to start with, so arguing over whether SVB should get a bailout isn’t about the systemic risk exception being invoked at all, but about the existence of public deposit insurance in any form?