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What do Peter Thiel's political party and contribution activity have to do with Silicon Valley Bank's solvency?

by dhbanes 4y ago

coldtea 4y ago
[flagged]
- hnrodey 4y ago
  What does it mean "he is on the wrong side of politics"?
  - throitallaway 4y ago
    I took GP's comment as sarcasm.
  - vanjajaja1 4y ago
    Thiel is a libertarian and he has recently earned the label of "someone who talks to someone who is connected to someone who has the label Nazi". That makes him colloquially "on the wrong side of politics" https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/03/18/white-nationalist-who-met-peter-thiel-admired-terroristic-literature https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/03/18/white-nationa... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrarian-peter-thiel-max-chafkin.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrari...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- phlakaton 4y ago
  ...You're missing a /s, right?
  - coldtea 4y ago
    yes
kurthr 4y ago
Good question. Who eased the Banking Regulation limits from $50B to $250B, allowing SVB to take Billions during the pandemic and invest them in low interest MBS without hedging them appropriately? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-dodd-frank/trump-signs-bill-easing-u-s-bank-rules-into-law-idUSKCN1IP2WX https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-dodd-frank/trum... Is that a friend of Peter Thiel? Someone he's been a vocal political and financial supporter for?
- brightlancer 4y ago
  Trump signed a bill passed by both houses of Congress; so the "who" is Trump, roughly 51 senators and roughly 213 representatives. It's not like Thiel called up Trump and they made this happen over lunch.
  - kurthr 4y ago
    Wow, so party line vote? Interesting. SVB lobbying using McCarthy's chief of staff. Hmmm. Think Thiel might have made a call? Maybe since he had so much money (of his investees) in it? Wasn't he recommending SVB? Just asking questions.
    - brightlancer 4y ago
      > Wow, so party line vote? Interesting. I don't know. I didn't look up the vote. My point was that it wasn't only Trump and instead involved hundreds of others.
opportune 4y ago
I have many reasons to dislike Thiel but being first in line for a bank run is not one of them. SVB would likely have had a run eventually given that the increased withdrawal/desposit ratios of a cooling VC market would have eventually forced them to lower interest on customer deposits very low compared to other banks (because they had a lot of underperforming assets in their books in their HTM portfolio), at which point a lot of deposits would have been moved elsewhere naturally, forcing the sale of non-HTM securities and probably eventually forcing the sale of HTM securities at a loss (triggering insolvency).

What do Peter Thiel's political party and contribution activity have to do with Silicon Valley Bank's solvency?

coldtea 4y ago

[flagged]

hnrodey 4y ago
What does it mean "he is on the wrong side of politics"?
- throitallaway 4y ago
  I took GP's comment as sarcasm.
- vanjajaja1 4y ago
  Thiel is a libertarian and he has recently earned the label of "someone who talks to someone who is connected to someone who has the label Nazi". That makes him colloquially "on the wrong side of politics" https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/03/18/white-nationalist-who-met-peter-thiel-admired-terroristic-literature https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/03/18/white-nationa... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrarian-peter-thiel-max-chafkin.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrari...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
phlakaton 4y ago
...You're missing a /s, right?
- coldtea 4y ago
  yes

kurthr 4y ago

Good question. Who eased the Banking Regulation limits from $50B to $250B, allowing SVB to take Billions during the pandemic and invest them in low interest MBS without hedging them appropriately? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-dodd-frank/trump-signs-bill-easing-u-s-bank-rules-into-law-idUSKCN1IP2WX https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-dodd-frank/trum... Is that a friend of Peter Thiel? Someone he's been a vocal political and financial supporter for?

brightlancer 4y ago
Trump signed a bill passed by both houses of Congress; so the "who" is Trump, roughly 51 senators and roughly 213 representatives. It's not like Thiel called up Trump and they made this happen over lunch.
- kurthr 4y ago
  Wow, so party line vote? Interesting. SVB lobbying using McCarthy's chief of staff. Hmmm. Think Thiel might have made a call? Maybe since he had so much money (of his investees) in it? Wasn't he recommending SVB? Just asking questions.
  - brightlancer 4y ago
    > Wow, so party line vote? Interesting. I don't know. I didn't look up the vote. My point was that it wasn't only Trump and instead involved hundreds of others.

opportune 4y ago

I have many reasons to dislike Thiel but being first in line for a bank run is not one of them. SVB would likely have had a run eventually given that the increased withdrawal/desposit ratios of a cooling VC market would have eventually forced them to lower interest on customer deposits very low compared to other banks (because they had a lot of underperforming assets in their books in their HTM portfolio), at which point a lot of deposits would have been moved elsewhere naturally, forcing the sale of non-HTM securities and probably eventually forcing the sale of HTM securities at a loss (triggering insolvency).