I guess what I am really saying between Yellen's carefully worded statement and Summer's hand wringing about 'contagion/extinction/whathaveyou' event and is that this action is very easy to defend on merits despite being very unpopular. I would hate to have to make this decision and I remember being pissed off in 2008 ( while technically being an indirect beneficiary of that policy ).

But even your counter can be addressed. Future risk is something that can be addressed once SVB is stablized and contagion contained. On the other hand, unrest following multiple startup blowup is a lot less predictable.

The question becomes: which risk is worse ( potential risky behavior later vs contagion now ). Immediate risk seems worse to Yellen and her friends. I personally disagree, but I have no power over those decisions so I can relatively easily rely on principle. I wish I could claim I would do differently were I in her shoes.