Silicon Valley Bank, RIP

Well, it’s happened. A biggish bank has exploded (well, two, but Signature Bank was mainly a crypto play, it seems). It’s deja vu all over again. The Fed insists that what is clearly a bailout is not a bailout. Although shareholders of SVB have lost their shirts, everyone else seems to be fine, thanks to the largesse of the US taxpayer, whose median income is probably a fraction of a percent of that of those who were saved.

The executives seem to have liquidated their stock holdings before anyone knew the bank was in trouble. Presumably, before they knew that the bank was in trouble, because otherwise it’d be insider trading, right?

Rudy H has some rude words to say about this fiasco. Yeah, he’s perfectly predictable, but also entertaining and occasionally insightful:

• https://rudy.substack.com/p/the-name-of-the-game-is-bailout

• https://rudy.substack.com/p/its-not-a-bailout-its-a-backstop

• https://rudy.substack.com/p/bill-ackman-redux