*Three U.S. banks collapsed within one week of each other and it didn’t take long for some people to deflect, trying to protect their own image by blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives – of all things – instead of placing blame where it should be. I’m here to set the record straight! Click the video above for more details or keep reading.
Two banks with mostly crypto-currency depositors went out of business because their customers took their money and ran off. The third, Silicon Valley Bank, chugged along until the Coronavirus pandemic. The bank’s deposits went from $55 million in January 2020 to $186 million at the end of 2020. That’s more than 300 percent growth in one year.
What did SVB do with all that money? It invested in government bonds. The bonds were free to purchase. So the bank gambled that bond rates eventually would rise, leading to profits. The opposite happened: interest rates went up instead. Bonds and interest rates work like a see-saw (remember that thing?): when interest rates go up, bond prices go down. So Silicon Valley Bank got stuck with valueless bonds and lost millions of dollars.
Instead of focusing on getting more depositors to balance the inhouse reserves-to-investments ratio that all banks are required to have, the president of Silicon Valley Bank bank made the mistake of making the bank’s complicated status public knowledge. Depositors showed up and withdrew their money. It’s called a ‘run on the bank.’ And that caused the bank to fail. If you haven’t already, read ‘The Creature From Jekyll Island’ for more details on how banks are supposed to work.
OTHER NEWS ON EURWEB: Michael Jordan in Talks to Sell Majority Share of Charlotte Hornets
Instead of working the accountability angle and blaming bankers for having the focus of a toddler, Wall Street Journal columnist Andy Kessler decided to speak on it by blaming the bank’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. In essence, the bank’s collapse is the fault of Black and Brown people. What in the hell do we have to do with rich White men using other people’s labor and other people’s money, then trying to invest it to make more money for themselves and their families? Well, if you put it like that I see the connection.
Kessler said Silicon Valley Bank was too preoccupied with its DEI initiatives, also citing the bank’s board of directors’ diverse makeup. And he said twelve White men would have been more focused on money. While I agree twelve white men would have focused on controlling other people’s money, other people’s property and taking over other people’s power, here’s why DEI is important: Silicon Valley Bank opened branches in other countries such as India, Israel, and China to purposely seek deposits from Black and Brown people. It seems only fair the board should reflect that.
People like Kessler still believe White is right, and no other opinion matters. He probably is against San Francisco’s reparations plans, even though he lives all the way in New York!
When I was in school in the 70s and 80s I remember when local television stations used to end their programming for the day and sign off the air at midnight. They would play the national anthem, put up color bars on the screen, and they didn’t sign back on the air until around 6am the next day.
These days there is always something to watch, something to listen to, something to read, even if it’s bullshit! In the words of Mark Twain: It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear to be a wannabe colonizer than to open it and remove all doubt.
Steffanie Rivers is a freelance journalist living in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. Email her at info@SteffanieRivers.com with your comments, questions and speaking inquiries. Follow her @tcbstef on Instagram and Twitter.
The post The Journal of Steffanie Rivers: Did DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Programs Lead to Bank Failures? | WATCH appeared first on EURweb.
