Brooks: SVB Got Special Treatment Because It’s in Silicon Valley

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued that the federal government wouldn’t have been so quick to act if Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was located outside of Silicon Valley and the federal government acted so quickly because people “created a narrative” that might not be true “that this medium-sized bank, if it went under, the whole economy would go under.” And “if I were a populist, I’d be jumping all over this thing, because Silicon Valley Bank gets bailed out? Really? It seems to be tailor-made for our friend Donald Trump.”

Brooks stated, “[W]ould we have been so quick to act if this were called Monongahela Valley Bank, and not Silicon Valley Bank? And my answer would be no, that the venture capitalists who invested in this bank and whose — people who they invested in put money in this bank, they created a narrative that this medium-sized bank, if it went under, the whole economy would go under. And once they created that narrative — which I think may not have been true — then, more or less, the feds had to act. And so, if I were a populist, I’d be jumping all over this thing, because Silicon Valley Bank gets bailed out? Really? It seems to be tailor-made for our friend Donald Trump.”

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