The financial crisis of late 2008 and 2009 popularized the concept that certain institutions, primarily in the financial sector, are “too big to fail.” That is, that their failure would gravely endanger the financial system and the broader economy destroying the standard of living of the nation’s current and aspiring middle class. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and other federal bailouts, which have put as much as $23.7 trillion of taxpayer money at risk, were attempts to ensure that banks and even insurance companies like AIG did not fail. While programs like these may have helped to maintain economic stability and prevent financial collapse, no single institution should be permitted to grow so large and take on so much risk that the taxpayer has no choice but to bail it out. Worse, institutions can use the likelihood of a government bailout to take on excessive risk, which allows them to make outsize profits on the backs of taxpayer money. The Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act would ensure that “too big to fail” institutions are eliminated. The Act requires the Treasury Secretary to identify any commercial or investment bank, hedge fund, or insurance company that is so large that its failure would destabilize the financial system or the United States economy without government intervention. The Secretary would be required to break up any institution on the list such that its failure would no longer threaten stability.