I was thinking that we got lucky and TARP ended up not costing much (not counting 2nd order effects pushed into the future). Also, I'm seeing 'only' about $5.3 trillion of new debt from 2008 to now: http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/federal_deficit_chart.html
It's why we saw incredible funding bubbles in the late 1990s, the mid 2000's, and just recently, all timed very well to the Fed encouraging risk booms through artificially low rates and other similar manipulation.
Understanding how the system functions, helps you understand the funding environment, which benefits anybody trying to work on a startup that has to concern themselves with financing. It's not ideal to overly focus on this of course, but it matters.