Saving Major Banks

Matt Yglesias tries to be too clever for his own good:

I, for one, don’t think that "saving" the too-big-to-fail financial institutions is or was among the legitimate purposes of our financial policy. The idea is—or at least ought to be—that we’re trying to prevent them from failing in a way that causes everyone else’s business to go under.

Is there some secret way, known only to Matt Yglesias, to prevent a major bank from failing in a way that causes everyone else to fail as well?

No. Not even close. Until there is (and I doubt there ever will be), "saving" too-big-to-fail financial houses will continue to be a legitimate purpose of our financial policy.