You can surely say it was too late since BSC was a casualty, but BSC shareholders are getting $2 per share in JPM stock whereas the alternative was that they get nothing. Also, half of BSC’s employees might keep their jobs by staying on with JPM. Clearly it was not an ideal outcome, but it was better than an all-out bankruptcy for the parties involved (albeit not for true free market proponents).

And you are certainly right about the weak dollar, but correcting that problem will take years and a complete change in the philosophy of those who choose to constantly print dollars whenever they are wanted. I don’t think the Fed alone can solve that one, even if they wanted to, unfortunately.

As a side effect, all of the current events are putting continued downward pressure on the dollar. While the Fed guaranteeing bank losses might assure bank investors it does nothing for currency investors. You may be right that banks are the better investment because even regular domestic investments have been getting killed because of the currency declines.