When you look at how the stock market works and who invests in it, yes it is too big to fail. We have moved away from companies providing pensions to retirees.

What we moved to us stuff like IRAs and 401K's. Occasionally you'll see an SEP. But what you have to understand about that is a lot of the general public's retirement savings are accruing value by being invested in the stock market.

I know that a lot of media portrays this as a thing that makes it seem pretty farfetched but the stock market and most of the commodities traded there are too big to fail because their profitability and stock price is what the US retirement system (if you can call it that) is based on.

Even social security is invested in the stock market. A lot of people don't think they're investing anything in the stock market and therefore crashes, dips, and even the bankruptcy of publicly traded companies doesn't effect them. They're not usually right about that.