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Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by mixologic on Sunday March 12, 2023 @11:50AM (#35121538)
You get your last paycheck, sure, but you still lose your job which is definitely a threat to workers lively hoods.

It's even more of a threat if the whole sector you're employed in suffers simultaneously, as it becomes difficult to continue to be employed in that sector.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by JackFr on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:01PM (#35121723)
I say as a person who’s been laid off twice and worked for a company that went bankrupt — why is that my problem?

Why should you get my money?

(In the case of the company I worked for which went bankrupt — we were a fintech startup with a truly innovative and fantastic product. Our management made three bad decisions which led to our demise. Two were technical and would have been recoverable, the last was a strategic move which ultimately proved disastrous.)

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by ordinaryradical on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:48PM (#35122480)
Because you don’t make depositors responsible for banks’ mismanagement unless you intend to create a depression.

Are you truly proposing that every time a bank fails we make everyone who kept money there take the hit?

A return to the 1920s, eh?

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by ryanwaggoner on Sunday March 12, 2023 @01:05PM (#35122758)
Why do you think the FDIC insurance limit is $250k instead of $250mm, or infinite?
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by ordinaryradical on Sunday March 12, 2023 @01:20PM (#35122981)
I will answer and you can answer this question:

Why is the government involved beyond that limit in this case? Could it be they want to give the average person peace of mind while retaining the flexibility to handle a restructuring however they deem best?

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by freeone3000 on Sunday March 12, 2023 @03:26PM (#35124974)
Because the bank continues to have assets, and those assets will be dispersed to cover depositors.
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by paulclinger on Sunday March 12, 2023 @03:18PM (#35124867)
It's because there is a cost associated with this insurance. It's not a bottomless pit of money, as FDIC pays out using the funds it collects from the participant banks and receives no funding from the government (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corp...). I think it should be possible for the bank to get better coverage, but they should be paying much larger premium if they want insurance up to 250mm instead of 250k.

I also think that similar to "FDIC insured" labels in bank branches, FDIC should require posting "13% of deposits are FDIC insured" to help assess risk for those clients that have uninsured funds.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by rmilk on Sunday March 12, 2023 @01:30PM (#35123166)
Exactly. I got a letter from my last startup Thu at 11pm telling us they had no cash for payroll tomorrow and we were all laid off. Poor planning along with super-lean cash flow broke my employer.

This is no different. For example, how many business checking accounts are backed by money market funds to get a little interest on them? Clearly states in offerings that rates aren’t guaranteed and you could even lose capital. Same with the $250k FDIC limit - clear risk with zero forethought from these employers of hedging it with lines of credit, payroll/business continuity insurance, etc.

Those are things “slow” companies do, not move fast and break things companies do (sarcasm intended - I have worked in R&D in both types multiple times).

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by tsimionescu on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:10PM (#35121863)
If things get dire enough, the government can intervene to protect workers in various ways (unemployment benefits, emergency housing, government employment - there are many options).

No need to prop up the middlemen with free insurance.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by CharlieDigital on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:34PM (#35122254)
> with free insurance

Taxpayer funded insurance.

What I wonder here is how many SV CEOs and VC partners are down with Biden's proposed hike on the capital gains tax rate.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by grugagag on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:47PM (#35122462)
None. They want it all at no cost. Should greed be fullfilled this one time around, then it’s guaranteed to happen again in a different shape or form
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by ipython on Sunday March 12, 2023 @01:16PM (#35122923)
Not exactly taxpayer funded: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/deposit-ins...

> The DIF is funded mainly through quarterly assessments on insured banks. A bank's assessment is calculated by multiplying its assessment rate by its assessment base. A bank's assessment base and assessment rate are determined and paid each quarter.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by CharlieDigital on Sunday March 12, 2023 @01:41PM (#35123356)
Not sure if that's going to cover the haircut that depositors are going to take with respect to the difference in SBC's asset values at liquidation. There is surely going to be some gap and the question is should the taxpayers be on the hook for that gap to make the depositors whole.
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by anon291 on Sunday March 12, 2023 @02:40PM (#35124306)
Unemployment insurance is already available. California and all the west coast states at least will also give free insurance in many cases. There is little risk to being unemployed especially for a short term while employees slowly get their money back after the asset sales.

I don't really see the big problem here.

Svb still has substantial assets. In the coming weeks, they will be sold and solid portions of the money returned. If companies have to temporarily furlough people, they will still get a reasonable wage that most Americans live on.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by TrispusAttucks on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:20PM (#35122028)
That definitely sucks but why should Americans who had nothing to do with the bank or sector fork over public tax dollars to provide a soft landing?
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by thatsamonad on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:37PM (#35122295)
* * *
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by mulmen on Sunday March 12, 2023 @12:28PM (#35122129)
Because it minimizes harm and stabilizes the economy. There are benefits to providing safety nets to people who didn’t have a hand in their own misfortune. Specifically those people get to continue providing value. The modern economy is not zero sum. Work creates value, it is in everyone’s interest to stabilize productive workers.
Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by TrispusAttucks on Sunday March 12, 2023 @03:28PM (#35125005)
Your statement is out of touch with most American workers. Especially blue collar.

Subsidize my class on the backs of the underclass.

Let's solve the wealth inequality gap with more wealth inequality.

Re:Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules... by mulmen on Sunday March 12, 2023 @06:25PM (#35127086)
And your statement is out of touch with reality.

The owners of the bank aren’t being bailed out. The FDIC is only paying back depositors. That is the working class. This bank doesn’t just cater to big bad VCs.

When depositors lose their savings through no fault of their own the whole system comes crashing down. That won’t help blue collar workers.