NY Times:
3 Lessons From Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure
Here’s one takeaway: The bank’s extremely online clientele may have contributed to its downfall.
Maybe that’s the only moral of the Silicon Valley Bank story — if you’re a bank, and many of your clients are tech start-ups whose funding ability is sensitive to rising interest rates, don’t invest their deposits in long-dated bonds that will lose value if interest rates rise. But I think we can draw a few other lessons from it.
The bank’s extremely online clientele may have contributed to its downfall? Maybe Twitter is, in fact, real life after all.
Washington Post: U.S. says ‘all’ deposits at failed bank will be available Monday
By the way if you need further explanation:
Andrew Ross Sorkin/NY Times:
Why did Silicon Valley Bank collapse?
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank was caused by a run on the bank. The company was not, at least until clients started rushing for the exits, insolvent or even close to insolvent. But if the banking business is ultimately a confidence game, the game ended quickly…
The bank and its advisers may have also made a tactical mistake: The General Atlantic equity investment could have been completed overnight, but the bank’s management also chose to sell convertible preferred stock, which couldn’t be sold until the next day. That left time for investors — and, more important, clients — to start scratching their heads and sow doubt about the firm, leading to an exodus of deposits.
David Sacks wants a bailout but he doesn’t want you to call it a bailout. And the Feds, concerned about other banks, found a way to thread the needle.
Thank goodness for grown-ups.
Oh and by the way ...
I know it seems that some of our best outlets had already awarded the win to Russia but for those following along…
AP News:
Russian advance stalls in Ukraine’s Bakhmut, think tank says
Russia’s advance seems to have stalled in Moscow’s campaign to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a leading think tank said in an assessment of the longest ground battle of the war.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said there were no confirmed advances by Russian forces in Bakhmut. Russian forces and units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group continued to launch ground attacks in the city, but there was no evidence that they were able to make any progress, ISW said late Saturday.
Anastasia Edel/Foreign Policy:
Staring Down the Black Hole of Russia’s Future
A Ukrainian victory may be the country’s only chance at long-term salvation.
We used to live in a world where large-scale conventional wars that left thousands of dead and wounded existed only in video games and books. A world where mutually beneficial commercial activity was guaranteed by a global security order, to which the world’s leading nations adhered in exchange for membership in a shared civilization. A world trending irreversibly toward liberal democracy.
Russia’s war of choice shattered these assumptions. In the heart of Europe, at least 18,000 civilians are dead, 14.5 million displaced, and thousands more tortured, mutilated, forcefully resettled. The trauma and misfortune Russia has wrought, unprovoked, on Ukraine is akin to those depicted in the tragedies of antiquity—advanced weapons such as drones and missiles notwithstanding. The barbarity of Russian warfare defies everything modernity stands for.
When this war is over, though, there is still hope that Ukraine will take its place in a brighter and honorable future, earned through the heroism of its people. The same cannot be said for Russia, which now finds itself staring down the inevitable black hole of its future.
Katie S. Phang/MSNBC:
The true cost of Dominion’s devastating Fox News bombshells
The result just might be a financial death penalty for the network.
And some legal experts agree: Dominion doesn’t just have the upper hand, it has the truth on its side. If Dominion is successful, then all that would be left to determine is the amount of damages that Dominion is entitled to receive. That’s where the numbers become astronomical. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm. But it’s also seeking punitive damages, which are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars. Punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and to deter others from repeating that egregious conduct. And a multi-billion-dollar punitive damages verdict would not just punish Fox News. It would send a ringing message to all media companies to keep themselves in check and uphold the truth.
They have to win first, of course, which they haven’t done yet in court. The court of public opinion, though? Everyone knows FOX lies and says it openly.
Washington Post:
Ex-Trump aide at Fox wrestled with election lies, network’s interests
Documents show Fox Vice President Raj Shah privately derided the White House’s narrative of a stolen election. But he also pushed back on efforts to dispute the claims.
Carlson’s producer, Alex Pfeiffer, responded: “It is so insane but our viewers believe it so addressing again how her stupid Venezuela affidavit isn’t proof might insult them.”
Shah advised that Carlson should mention the affidavit noting it was “not new info, not proof” but then quickly “pivot to being deferential.”
Pfeiffer, who has since left the network, answered that the delicate dance was “surreal.”
“Like negotiating with terrorists,” he added, “but especially dumb ones. Cousin f----- types not saudi royalty.”
Michael C. Bender/NY Times:
A Glimpse of DeSantis in Iowa: Awkward, but Still Winning the Crowd
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida visited Iowa on Friday, providing a window into his still-untested skills as a retail politician.
She smiled widely and pointed to her hoodie as she told the governor that her son attended college in his home state. Mr. DeSantis — dressed in a dark blue suit with a light blue, open-collar shirt and black boots — stood on the opposite side of 10 metal bike racks separating him from the crowd. He gave a slight nod to Ms. Barker and told her about his state’s new “grandparent waiver” that gives tuition breaks to out-of-state students whose grandparents are Florida residents.
But Ms. Barker, a 50-year-old teacher who had driven about an hour to see the Florida governor in Davenport, does not have any other family in the Sunshine State, and she narrowed her eyes in confusion at his response. Here she was at an event promoting Mr. DeSantis’s new book, shoulder to shoulder with a crush of Iowans eager for face time with the anti-“woke” darling of right-wing America, and he was talking waivers.
Mr. DeSantis quickly scribbled his name with a black Sharpie in her book and smiled. “Go Gators,” he told her as he moved on to the next person awaiting his signature.
Alexandra Berzon and Ken Bensinger/NY Times:
Inside Ron DeSantis’s Politicized Removal of an Elected Prosecutor
The Florida governor accused the Democratic prosecutor of undermining public safety. But a close examination of the episode reveals just how fueled it was by Mr. DeSantis’s political aims.
But a close examination of the episode, including interviews, emails, text messages and thousands of pages of government records, trial testimony, depositions and other court records, reveals a sharply different picture: a governor’s office that seemed driven by a preconceived political narrative, bent on a predetermined outcome, content with a flimsy investigation and focused on maximizing media attention for Mr. DeSantis.