This competitive distortion is not only unfair to smaller firms and damaging to competition today, but it also spurs further growth by the largest firms and more consolidation and concentration in the financial industry. A financial system dominated by too-big-to-fail firms cannot be a healthy financial system. The act addresses the too-big-to-fail problem with a multi-pronged approach.
Nonetheless, we know that increases in home values and the borrowing against home equity likely helped cushion the effects of a declining stock market during 2001 and 2002.