Yes, I agree.  TARP worked in the US for what it was supposed to do -- avoid a bigger headache of rebuilding a system of credit from the ground up using people who've never worked in the field before (because you've fired the existing bankers). But given the low level of lending that society has by now adjusted itself to, another TARP would not be as necessary for that. The economy is already of such low performance that another "credit crisis" brought on by banks being taken over by the government (and thereby reducing their lending activities for a time while the new managers learn the ropes) cannot possibly affect things as much as they could in 2008.  People are already so risk averse that our consumption and investment behavior is largely immune to the effects of another bank meltdown.