Come on!
When things went haywire George Baily bailed his bank out with his OWN money!
His own risk.
True, but remember the big tear-jerker scene at the end when everyone takes up a collection? Does it occur to anyone that these “altruists” had a good thing going and wanted to keep the gravy train running? Although we tend to sentimentalize small-town America, people there can be grasping and self-interested, just as big-city folk.