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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Are America's Financial Institutions Still 'Too Big to Fail?'

    Five years ago this week, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers led to America's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Bush and Obama Administrations used billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out banks that were so big their failure would have hurt the economy even more. Now some of those banks are bigger than ever.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Five years ago this week, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers led to America's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Bush and Obama Administrations used billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out banks that were so big their failure would have hurt the economy even more. Now some of those banks are bigger than ever. Will that lead to another round of excessive risk-taking by executives and investors confident of another government bailout? JP Morgan Chase is America's biggest bank. Today, JP Morgan Chase made a rare admission that it did wrong — to the tune of $920 million in fines to four regulatory agencies. The Dodd-Frank bill was supposed to prevent a repeat of the Great Recession. We talk to former Congressman Barney Frank and others. Should Main Street be worried about the future of Wall Street?

    The full episode

    1 of 2
    Are Our Banks Still 'Too Big to Fail?'
    1. 0:00Are America's Financial Institutions Still 'Too Big to Fail?'You’re reading this
    2. 42:05Republican Leadership in Congress Follows the Extremists
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

    • KCRW placeholder

      Kerry Cavanaugh

      editorial writer at the Los Angeles Times

    • Sonya Geis with wavy brown hair wearing a black dress with red accents and decorative earrings against a white background.

      Sonya Geis

      Senior Managing Editor

    • KCRW placeholder

      Gretchen Morgenson

      New York Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Barney Frank

      former Congressman (D-MA)

    • KCRW placeholder

      Heidi Moore

      Guardian

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    1 of 2
    Are Our Banks Still 'Too Big to Fail?'
    1. 0:00Are America's Financial Institutions Still 'Too Big to Fail?'You’re reading this
    2. 42:05Republican Leadership in Congress Follows the Extremists
    Back to To the Point