Well there were alternatives in 2008 and still are, the most notable of them transparency for the subprime mortgages in public infrastructure not just private housing. But instead the governments chose to bribe the banks for not exposing their mistakes. Now instead of a distinction between bribed banks and others, what is needed is an equal rule for all of them to enter their assets in the balance sheets only at the values at which they are actually purchased or sold instead of any fantasy values in between.