The Banking Acts of 1980 and 1999 contributed to the financial crisis in 2008 by

A) increasing the number of small banks.
B) encouraging the creation of more financial institutions that were "to big to fail".
C) restricting the trading of toxic assets.
D) creation of a large number of bankrupted financial institutions.

The Banking Acts of 1980 and 1999 both contributed to the consolidation of the banking industry and the creation of larger, more complex financial institutions. This, in turn, led to the development of institutions that were seen as "too big to fail." These institutions were so large and interconnected that their failure could have catastrophic effects on the entire financial system. When the crisis hit in 2008, these institutions were bailed out by the government, which only reinforced the idea that they were too big to fail.