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They should have let it fail. A policy of insuring 100% of deposits is simply incompatible with the idea that private banks make loans. If all deposits are insured that effectively means that banks will be loaning the governments money instead which will either result in 1. The government deciding how and who to issue credit to or 2. Theft from the public.
They are all ready trying to walk this back (listen to Janet Yellen at 1 hour 30 minutes): https://youtube.com/watch?v=WVTmS4mM5zk&t=5718s
It’s going to get ugly when they do inevitably have to let some depositors take a loss, as they will basically be admitting that svb only got a bailout because the depositors are politically well connected.
Frankly I’ve also been kind of surprised with attitudes on the motte about this issue. I can only assume that most of the posters here are adjacent enough to venture capital and broader sv ecosystem to be benefiting from this too such a degree that the usual
Libertarian ideals expressed here can be ignored on this issue.
I agree fully with letting everybody eat the full loss. I just lurk more than I post.
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I'm not really seeing a consensus. I'm against a bailout and one would certainly help my department.
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I don't think most people here were ever libertarians in any strict sense. It's more like libertarian ideals are more pragmatic in some instances, and less so in others.
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FWIW, I agree. At least give them a haircut.
I’m not sure it’s related to Silicon valley connections, the motte is relatively pro-bailout as far as 2008 is concerned. From what I can tell, out of a mixture of respect for expert opinion and rellying on speculative counterfactual scenarios of (greater) destruction if no bailout happened. I’m not convinced by those: the experts had some major conflicts of interest, and a banking bloodbath/bad debt wipeout might have been just what the patient needed.
I’m sure most here can see clearly that saving the coal industry at great cost to the taxpayer in 70s britain isn’t the ‘prudent’ move, even though it also has major ramifications for the rest of the economy. But when people in suits excuse their mistakes and beg for their useless jobs, we like to defer to their expertise. One day perhaps they'll decide and explain if they're private or public sector.
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