Schweizer: It’s what you call an incestuous relationship between government and business.
On the latest episode of the Drill Down podcast, Government Accountability Institute President and New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer and GAI Vice President Eric Eggers tackle the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank – and reveal California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s personal interest in the bank’s bailout.
“This was ‘the elite’ —this was the ‘Silicon Valley elite,’ Schweizer says of the SVB depositors, adding that much of SVB’s cash was invested in Environmental Social Governance initiatives which, in many cases, didn’t even make a product.
“Maybe people are right to be worried,” Eggers says of SVB’s demise.
On the other hand, Eggers stresses that if some of the cutting-edge tech companies doing business with the bank were allowed to fail, China could swoop in and buy everything “on the cheap,” putting America in a potentially compromised, weakened position.
“I think we should restrict China from buying up any of these companies,” Schweizer confirms adamantly.
“[ESG] businesses generally don’t make money,” Schweizer says, adding that SVB got caught with its pants down with too much money in too many green businesses.
Schweizer and Eggers expose California Governor Gavin Newsom’s personal interest in bailing out Silicon Valley Bank, including Newsom’s business connections to SVB and his shakedown for his wife’s charity. At Newsom’s request, the bank donated $100,000 to his wife’s charity, the California Partners Project, and later advocated the bank’s bailout. “It’s what you call an incestuous relationship between government and business,” Schweizer says.
To listen to the Drill Down Podcast – click here.