It would be understandable to get caught up in the details of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse, and the ensuing chaos in the banking world. Yet, there is one major over-arching signal that is the linchpin to why SVB collapsed, and why other regional banks are having trouble: the cancer of woke ideology.
While there are many disparate elements contributing to the collapse itself, I contend all of the issues driving the disaster are linked by overall fealty to the cancer of wokism, impacting much of our infrastructure and affecting all of our lives.
You see, the moment any organized entity looks away from basic governing principles and instead commits to failed far-left political governance based on identity politics and Marxist theory, that tells you they have already completely lost the plot. Woke virtue signaling and responsible organizational decision making are like oil and water, one does not work with the other.
Many observers and analysts are appropriately pointing to woke-based decisions by SVB management as the culprit for the downfall. Reports are saying SVB chose “environmental, social, governance” (ESG) investing eschewing sound investment standards. This leftist scheme is nothing more than sleight of hand allowing the redirection of investment funds to enrich the left’s cancerous agenda.
Moreover, the New York Post exposed that the governing board of the bank was composed of leftist and Democrat Party activists and donors. For all entities drowning in woke, merit is not merely ignored it is considered inappropriate to be replaced by identity politics. Only one of the directors had investment banking experience. “SVB touted its diversity, though, noting in its 2022 proxy statement that 45% of its board are women, in addition to ‘other diversity’ like ‘one black’ member, ‘one LGQBT+’ and ‘two veterans,'” reported the Post. This virtue signaling by fetishizing certain kinds of people is typical of the woke cult.
Moreover, Fox Business reported SVB had no Chief Risk Officer leading up to the crash but employed a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Officer. Why? Because woke policy was the priority, not safe and proven best practices.
And now, courtesy of a new database created by the Claremont Institute and reporting by Just the News, we have learned that SVB and Signature Bank of New York, another failed woke bank, pledged or donated a shocking $71.5 million dollars to organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
While stunning, we also know the trouble regional banks are having is due in part to their treasury and bond assets crashing in value with the Federal Reserve Bank raising interest rates to combat Biden’s inflation crisis. Oh the tangled web the establishment weaves.
There are now all kinds of arguments and debates about which was more serious, who is to blame, and how to stop it from happening again. But it’s time to recognize that all of these details are linked to an attitude infecting most of our infrastructure. Whether it be banking, education, the military, business, law, and government itself, we are witnessing something akin to mass hysteria with the implementation of idiotic and dangerous Leftist demands which are designed to cause division, destruction, and failure.
A company or an institution which has succumbed to wokeness manifests publicly in a variety of ways. In the military it may be about pronouns, transgender extremism, and downgrading standards.
In education, it’s about erasing parental rights in the name of transgender extremism, pronouns, teaching of the Marxist critical race theory, and attempts to destroy standards and meritocracy.
No matter the kind of company or type of institution the primary signal of ultimate failure and impending collapse comes not from the symptoms of wokeness but the turn to it in the first place. The original management & leadership decision to turn away from original, sound missions and embrace the political requirements of a theory designed to destroy the American way of life and the functioning elements of western civilization dooms the involved entity.
The series of unforced errors leading to this bank crisis required leftist nonsense at every level. Ranging from Biden extending the government’s COVID emergency postition, pouring trillions into the system without considering the inflationary impact, pushing disastrous ESG policies, and encouraging woke policies throughout our national infrastructure, has led to the collapse of confidence, functionality, and cohesiveness in this country as a whole.
This mindless frenzy affects all of us as it leads to the failure of social cohesion and structural stability which all of our families rely upon. There are immediate things you’ve probably already engaged in to mitigate the impact of this new banking crisis. The very first thing that everyone can do now is make sure that your deposits, no matter what kind of bank they’re in, are covered by FDIC insurance. You can get the details in this New York Times explainer and at the FDIC. Current regulation insures accounts up to $250,000. These days, while you may conduct most of your banking online or through an app, now would be a good time for you to talk to a person in your bank branch to get an overview of what’s happening with your accounts and with the bank itself.
In the meantime your local and state representatives can also take steps to make sure that leftists embedded in important institutions do not continue to put your money and future at risk. To that point, a new coalition of governors are working together to forbid the use of pension money to fund leftist projects through ESG policies. AMAC Action has numerous resources with which you can engage to make a difference at every level. Now is the time to make sure your voice is heard!
The worst may be yet to come. The bailout has been done with your money in higher fees and higher borrowing rates. The worst will be a national digital currency. Then the federal government has complete control of what you spend and on what you spend it on.
Just because FDIC covers an individual’s checking and savings accounts up to $250,000 doesn’t mean a thing in today’s banking economy, as far as I’m concerned. How many people have gotten use to pulling out their plastic to pay for purchases made on any given day? I confess to being guilty of this practice myself. I went to my bank the other day, and asked for some check ledgers, cause my check ledger was almost full. The teller looked at me like, what are you talking about??
I had to speak with her manager and he had to scramble to find just one ledger. It scary, but with a few key stokes on a computer’s keyboard, a depositor can be made persona non grata in today’s financial environment, as well. You won’t exist in cyberspace. Per this article we can only hope brighter minds will prevail at keeping our assets safe from all the woke-ness so prevalent these days. This Country has gone down hill, since 45 left office!
I’m with a Credit Union. The only thing is, I fear the government will threaten my Credit Union to get in line with their rules. Credit Unions are owned by the members so I hope we can all get together and tell the government to screw themselves .
What needs to happen is, anytime anyone hears or runs across this poison in any business they patronize, take your money out, contact the office and tell them why. I email, call or text them even if I’m not a customer. Even though you might think they don’t care, if enough people do it, when they start to loose money, it may prompt them to change their ways. If they don’t, then like bed bath and beyond, they’ll close up permanently. Also, make sure to support elected officials that make laws to get rid of this crap. We have a lot of power, our money. I know it’s hard, because it’s so pervasive, but make an effort to find who these companies are and don’t give them your money.
1) SVB and Signature Bank were what would rightly be classified as “specialty banks”. SVB was created and operated to essentially assist the various venture capitalist firms in Silicon Valley obtain funding and lines of credit for the various start-ups that the VC firms backed and had a stake in. In turn, these start-up companies all used SVB for almost all their companies’ business needs. That is why 90% of the “customers” of SVB had bank balances well over the $250,000 FDIC limit.
Signature Bank, from looking at its Board of Directors and the type of “investments” it made, was essentially created and operated to be a funding arm of the Democrat Party to fund various political causes and agendas. So neither “bank” fit the classic definition of what most people would assume a regional bank does; Meaning make home and small business loans, car loans and handle savings and checking of the average type American. Both SVB and Signature Bank failed because of bad management decisions and also the apparent lack of adequate and prudent risk management policies being strictly enforced on their banks’ investment portfolios.
2) Given the unique circumstances of both these banks, it is clear a whole lot of politicians are trying to scare the public into thinking there are wide-spread insolvency issues with regular regional banks in general. Which there doesn’t seem to be based on publicly available data on the overall health of the regional and large-scale banks in this country. Are issues like “woke” policies and agendas, along with the threat of ESG being imposed on the banks by Washington a real concern? Of course they are, but what is being done right now smacks more of being a well-coordinated fear campaign being driven out of Washington, to try and soften up the American public, for some radical changes to our economic system that the Democrats need “a crisis” in order to justify.
Bottom line, assess the situation based on verifiable facts and data, not on speculation.
Great article. We need to continually expose the lies of the left. Hedonistic Marxism has, nor ever will work. Woke is a joke–a very bad and harmful joke!
Once again, we see poor leadership and the lack of bottom-line business decision making 101! Businesses should be run on the idea of making money, providing jobs and protecting their investors, that being said leave your personal issues and beliefs at home, when you bring them into your business you potentially kill a large part of your customer base or invest in other things you shouldn’t. IMO
Reminds me of the part in “Atlas Shrugged” where corporations were run by people who had no experience but hated profit. One man answered criticism by replying, “No one can say I’m a bad businessman. No company I ever ran made a profit!”
Are woke ideologies and incompetent business practices synonymous with atypical performance? Maybe a one time event might be a anomaly, but two? And how many more lay beneath the cover of woke bussiness incompetence regardless of where leftist money flows. Sound financial banking should be foremost with never a trace of impropriety. Clouded judgment based on woke ideology has no place where public trust is at stake.
Leftist woke policies are the automatic enemies of merit, excellence, self discipline, and hard work. Of course, woke banks are doomed to fail, because woke banks are focused on equity, transgenderism, and anti-white racism. In this dysfunctional, inflated economy in which paper money is printed without thought or critical analyses, it’s a small wonder that more banks have not already gone belly up. Woke leftism is destroying our entire country. The military, the police, the educational system, the banks, and the nuclear family are all being battered to smithereens. Tragically, at the present, things are not looking good for the good guys — the patriots who love the USA and are not hell bent on destroying our Constitutional Republic. .
Their woke focus is on ESG. ESG is never going to work. Guess all those with a 2×4 mentality and will need to go to the school of hard knocks.
Credit Union Banks may be better
To Combat:
Activist investors.
Boycott
Lose stock value
Seek other sources
Or NO change
GOOD
I have seen what these Socialist and Woke ideas are doing to the people 30 and younger. They want a free ride and given what I worked hard to get. There are jobs to be had if you want to work. I chased the dollar all over and made a great living. The Political parties of today want to give the Collage kids a free ride, I paid for my kid school buy working extra hours and side jobs.
The Socialist ideas must be stopped, or this Country will fall apart. I will fight to see both buried.
Leave it to the left. If it can be messed up they will do it.
Very good, informative, important article Tammy, It should be appreciated by all who are interested that you mentioned the new coalition of governors and AMAC Action , the work being done to counteract the treachery of the woke element in banking. The more complex a matter presents itself, the more indication that truth is under attack . What you have written is an honest opinion of the situation and it is appreciated.
.
It is obvious to me that putting racial quotas on employment, education is forcing companies to not higher the best candidate for the job in probably most cases. Therefore how can you not expect a watered down version of a business or educational resulting product or operation?
I”m having trouble understanding the SVB bank failure . I’ve heard that the deposits on hand earn little which i believe means that depositers don’t get much interest on their deposits . I’ve also heard that SVB holds T notes that pay more in interest . How is this a problem ? I’ve also heard that the Officers of the bank gave themselves huge golden parachute bonuses . And that they approved loans (?) to Democrat BLM affiliated organizations . So, this bank is GIVING money away ? That would clearly be a problem . I understand that it also give money to other Democrat polls . Were they giving away depositers deposits ? If so , isn’t that called bank robbery ? And after they gave away much money to various Democrat polls and Dempocrat organizations , they then gave themselves huge bonuses from Depositers’ deposits too ? It looks like they gave away the deposits . This , of course , would trigger a collapse on the price of SVB’s stock . How does a stock price collapse trigger a governmente bailout ot the stock-holders , and SVB’s stolen deposits ? Is this why the Democrat ruled Treasury , Democrat President and Democrat Government are now bailing them out ? And, it looks like the bank’s Officers apparently KNEW that the Democrat government officials would bail them out . So they took as much as they could before the stock collapsed . Isn’t this really a story about a bank heist and a coverup by idiot Democrat politicians ?
Let your state treasurer know and Brandon not to invest any money in ESG companies like Black Rock. I have done so and every American should do so at least the ones that have savings accounts in any bank.
Second the 5 largest banks have to be audited and their assets and obligations published in every newspaper and explained by the MSM. To reach every American. This could become a part of the open administration Brandon talked about on his Inauguration Day. For all his talk about being open it has not happened almost 2.5 years in.
Lies and lies is all we hear.
With people like Obama and H. Clinton on Bank Boards and pushing Loser WOKENESS the Bank and Education institutions will continue to FAIL.
As I have said many a time;
GO WOKE, GO BROKE.
They proved my point for us.
We have progressed into gross crony KLEPTOCRATIC God-less capitalism today. (ruled by thieves in a state of unrestrained political corruption.) (A government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.) Public corporation’s are not separate from politicians they are full scale in bed with them. ESG – Elite Socialist Governance
According to these articles, Bank of America supported Black Lives Matter and stacked the deck against white homebuyers. If I had the monies, I would sue Warren Buffet, who owns Bank of America.
thepatriotnation.net/bank-of-america-caught-stacking-the-deck-against-white-homebuyers-2/
Bank of America, meanwhile, provided $18.25 million to BLM. Other businesses also listed that gave to BLM
yournews.com/2023/03/15/2534482/black-lives-matter-movement-received-nearly-83-billion-from-corporations/
The picture heading in the newsletter with the link below needs to be more accurate. It shows not wealthy people to invoke sympathy instead of showing the majority if not all, banking at this bank is investors and businesses. There is no way the Federal Reserve, insurance, etc., can repay; sooner or later, the taxpayer is paying this. Even though the Pentagon is rescuing specific sectors of businesses at this bank, this payback comes from taxpayer monies because the taxpayer is what supports the Pentagon/military.
defenseone.com/business/2023/03/pentagon-mobilized-support-tech-startups-after-bank-failure/384033/
These businesses are nothing more than PURE communist supporters that push the communist agenda.
The bank failures may be the socialist/communist influence showing itself and the plan to eventually wipe out the middle class and all but those in power in the rich class. As banks fail, the FDIC has no money and government will print more to pay the insurance amount. That reduces wealth to $250,000 if you have invested in a bank, and that $250,000 has a reduced value because of the government printing worhtless money. Some of us remember illustrations in history books showing people taking a wheelbarrow of money to the grocery store. I bring that up because it documents the view of what happened in the past. There are no protections that can prevent it happening again. All it takes are politicians spending us into unpayable debt and banks investing in overvalued securities.
The Progressive-Socialists’ agenda implementation that bloomed with Obama has been throttled ahead at full steam. They have had unimagined success so far. This tells them that they only need to double-down on their efforts and they will prevail against the Right, who has shown little in the way of staunch resistance, so far.
Given that, they will not quit or go away quietly. They must be neutralized by any means at our disposal. I might suggest that for every Illegal they deliberately allow to invade our country, we expel one of them in turn and nullify their citizenship.
Let me see now, they paid the bonuses, they transferred $84 B where?? Part of their circle of control is Boston Private Bank and Trust. There legal front is CT Corporation which is a LLC which is owned by an LLC. The startling thing is that politicians are involved or is it startling. Where did all this money come from? Could it possibly be drug money laundering. Of course not these are ranking politicians and business people.
This needs somebody besides an amateur sleuth to look into this beyond WOKE etc.
Remember the words uttered by China, Iran, Russia, and others—-“A new world order.” There are many regimes that would like to see us fail because if we fail so to does Freedom. Keep this in mind when you see Antifa freaks go free after destroying federal property while regular citizens are getting jail terms for the DC riots. Our freedom is at risk when criminals can go free and other citizens get hammered. There is no excuse nor injections for stupidity. The riots went to far. So we the citizens get hit with a $50 m bill for the hearings.