Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC, should know. The FDIC has been winding down the nation's failed banks since the recession began. She says when big banks fails, bankruptcy doesn't work. Under reform, Wall Street (investment) BANKS WILL BE PAYING into a $50 billion fund (contrary to Mitch McConnell's lie) to pay for their funeral expenses if they fail. Bair says 140 banks failed last year and 50 failed this year. (see a list of failed banks) But the pace of bank failure is slowing and they're mostly small banks. NPR had a great story last year on how the FDIC seamlessly takes over a failed bank.