Bro-bank blues, hero victory and other comments

Right to left: Bro-Bank Blues

“The SVB failed for the same reason bank failures usually fail,” says City Journal’s Nicole Gelinas. But the real “culprit is all the money the federal government has pumped into the financial system over the past 15 years.” He “had to go somewhere.” Where? “Into sky-high prices for stocks and housing” and “food and energy inflation.” “But it’s mostly gone to the bloated tech sector” already “out of ideas”. Now raising interest rates by the Fed reveals bad investment: “There are more SVBs,” but “investors just don’t think the Fed has the guts to keep interest rates high enough for long enough to find them. Investors are betting on the bailout to bail us out of all our previous bailouts.”

From left to right: helping the rich

The “real problem” with saving Silicon Valley bank depositors “is that this gift to a handful of very rich people will blind everyone who knows how we got here,” grumbles David Dayen of The American Prospect. The idea “that regulators should invoke a systemic risk exclusion to protect savers” is “ridiculous given that SVB directly lobbied for their bank to be removed from the systemic risk label” and “members of Congress – from both parties – agreed to do so” . so.” Plus “a hairstyle that [SVB] savers under normal rules would be minimal,” but with the bailout, “savers in the SVB got all the benefits of banking there, paying nothing extra to reduce the risk of bankruptcy, and none of the downsides. Privatized Profits, Socialized Risks”.

Analyst: behind Biden’s anti-crime gesture

President Biden’s support for a resolution to repeal DC’s soft crime law led to two-thirds of Senate Democrats helping to pass the measure, but most House Democrats who opposed it were hung “dry,” notes CNN’s Harry. Anten. Biden clearly “didn’t want to be seen as soft on crime” as the 2024 election approached. Gallup believes 70% of adults are dissatisfied with the nation’s efforts to fight crime and recent election results – the defeat of Chicago Mayor Laurie Lightfoot, the near defeat of New York Gov. Hole, the victory of former cop Eric Adams in New York, and the recall of San Francisco’s left-wing district attorney Cheza Boudin – probably “spooked Biden” when voters already give the Republican Party a 20-point lead on crime.

Oscar Note: Victory for a Hero

“Russian liberals on Monday celebrated their Oscars with the documentary Navalny, about the poisoning and imprisonment of ‘hero’ Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny,” who is now “serving a total of 11.5 years,” according to Petr Sauer. The Guardian. . The film “follows the investigation that Navalny’s team, together with the Bellingcat group, exposes the FSB agents sent to poison Navalny in 2020.” Applauding supporters include Mikhail Fishman, “a popular liberal Russian journalist and filmmaker,” who said, “Navalny won an Oscar because he’s a hero and because the day he’s out of jail hasn’t come yet. . But that day will surely come.” In his acceptance speech to denounce “Vladimir Putin’s unjust war of aggression in Ukraine,” director Daniel Rohar added: “Aleksey, the world has not forgotten your important message to all of us: we should not be afraid to confront dictators and authoritarianism wherever they arise. his head.”

Beating the Gas Stove: Joe’s Team Still at War

Not only does President Biden still “have a few federal agencies targeting” gas stoves, Ben Lieberman grumbles at Fox, “he also handles the natural gas supplies they depend on.” The proposed energy efficiency standards “stand out because gas stoves hit much harder than electric versions.” And the Inflation Reduction Act provides handouts “for builders of subsidized electricity-only housing units,” plus “funding for states and localities that change their building codes to create barriers to gas connections,” and an “$840 rebate.” dollars to anyone who buys a new home. electric stove.” All this “could cause a big backlash not only against stove requirements, but also against the broader climate agenda.”

— Prepared by the editorial board of The Post.