In a free market economy, banks will go bust from time to time like any other business, and although it can be inconvenient for people who work for or who have invested in the companies, it's a known risk and one that we can plan for and mitigate against, and in the grand scheme of things, such minor blips are surely pretty insignificant setbacks relative to the benefits of a generally strong economy.

In the UK, I think I'm right in saying that banks are backed by the Financial Standards Authority, so if one goes bust, customers are guaranteed to get 90% of their savings up to ?50k (up to ?48, effectively) back. So if you have more than that, just split your savings across several banks or investment funds and you're pretty safe. I imagine there are more than a few countries in the world where that would not happen, or where the government would be able to set in and temporarily support a bank like Nothern Rock in order to avoid a wider economic collapse.