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Comment by syshum | Hacker News Reader

Dont worry, if it ever does effect equifax's bottom line the government will just award them more contracts....

Equifax is "too big to fail" and the government will ensure it does not

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The phrase "too big to fail" referred to the idea that certain banks are so big that their failure would severely damage the economy, to the point that it was worth propping them up at all costs. Equifax is just a credit reporting agency though, and they're not the only big one that exists, so I doubt the loss of Equifax would cause enough collateral damage to justify a government intervention.

IRS has already granted them millions in contracts Post Data Breach with more on the way

> The phrase "too big to fail" referred to the idea that certain banks are so big

Yes, thank you Mr Technicality for the explanation. The fact of the matter is Crony Capitalism existed before the bank bailouts and continues to exist,

"Too big to fail" is more of a Meme now to refer to the concept of Government bailing out business, and does not refer to a point in history or a single act by government

Don't be so sure of not being so sure about that. The banks that got bailed out certainly weren't the only ones that existed, and in fact there were many more back then than there are now since they used the bailouts to buyout their competition. There are only 3 big 'just a credit reporting agency' megacorps and few smaller contenders. Given that our entire economy now is so heavily driven by debt and credit, it's not a stretch at all to consider that someone could be convinced that it's dangerous to the balance of power and to the economy in general to let one of the Big 3 go under.

"to big to fail" only apply to (big) companies that mainly use debt to finance themselves, and have no assets to sell if they ever "fail" and go bankrupt. Because debt owner then would go bankrupt, and if debt owners are also companies with a huge ratio debt/asset, they would then go bankrupt and so on. So banks.

(NB: i may have misused financial terms as i am not a native speaker)

Your entire rationalization is that 'too big to fail' is all about debt and credit, because that is such an inordinately huge part of today's economy. What business do you think Equifax and its competitors are intimately involved in, if not debt and credit?

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