Ann: Race global agreement with City of Hope to access FTO IP, page-170

Whilst I agree with you in that the USA has a far more positive attitude.
Our GFC experience was not so much about risk aversion of the banks.
It was about banks being responsible i.e. NOT lending money to those who cannot afford it.
That rule still applies today and the US came to Australia post GCF to learn what we know.

The US banks basically lent money to people who cannot afford the loan.
Then packaged up those loans into tranches and the rating agencies called them triple A.
Then sold those tranches to investors all over the world.
I recall a regional Council in NSW invested circa $300k and lost the lot.

Suggestion to all is watch the move "The Big Short" a few times to understand what happened.
There are a couple of other movies and online docos that explain it as well.

Victoria is doing something similar at the moment, living beyond its means.
Borrowed more than we can afford on projects we don't need just yet.
This will all need to be paid back at some point and the pain has just started.
Unfortunately, it wont just get written off like in the GFC.

GLTAH