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Hello and welcome to the inaugural Case of the Mondays newsletter! I’m Clare, executive editor at DAME. Each Monday, I’ll be in your inbox to catch you up and fill you in on the must-knows to start your week.
This week, we’re watching Silicon Valley Bank, re-watching Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, and introducing our new reader Q+A section. Let’s get into it.
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Clare Murphy
Executive Editor
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Oscars, Alaska and Tucker's Texts
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The Oscars. Last night, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once picked up seven awards with truly heartwarming acceptance speeches, including best picture and best director. Michelle Yeoh made history becoming the first Asian woman to win best actress, and supporting actor awards also went to Everything’s Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan. Brendan Fraser’s comeback was sealed as winner of best actor, yet the feelings remain mixed about the fatphobic film.
Rihanna honored Chadwick Boseman, and Lady Gaga performed a stripped down and makeup-free version of her Top Gun hit. There was an emotional support donkey named Jenny and a Cocaine Bear. Perhaps most remarkably, Hollywood made it through its 95th biggest night without a slap.
Alaska. The Biden administration approved a huge oil drilling project in Alaska known as ConocoPhillips’ Willow, despite widespread opposition because of expected environmental effects. The massive project involves drilling for oil and gas at three sites for multiple decades on the National Petroleum Reserve—the largest tract of undisturbed and pristine public land in the U.S. The project could produce more than 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years…and burning all that oil could release nearly 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Tucker’s Texts. Court filings attached to the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit accuse Fox News of allowing its stars to knowingly broadcast false claims about rigged voting machines in the 2020 presidential election. While Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo have been singled out, most of the fire has come for Tucker Carlson, the most popular TV host on American cable news. Tucker texted to his producer Alex Pfeiffer two days after the 2020 election, to say of Trump: “All of his [business ventures] fail. What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.” In a more brief summation of his feelings of Trump, there’s this gem: “I hate him passionately.”
March Madness begins this week. Here’s how to dominate your office pool.
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Give me the gist. On Friday, regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). It was the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. SVB provided banking services to nearly half of the country’s venture capital-backed technology and life-science companies, according to its website, and to over 2,500 venture capital firms. Basically: Tech world and startups are shook.
Okay…but how did this happen? Just like with any bank, cash at SVB didn’t sit in accounts. Back when interest rates were low, the bank invested its big deposits from the tech industry in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. But recently, as tech companies have been struggling (so many layoffs) and needing more cash, SVB needed to fund the increase in withdrawals. Its big idea: sell bonds. Spoiler: It didn’t go well. SVB lost $1.8 billion in the sale and venture capital firms dropped out before it could catch up. Then SVB’s stock plunged by 60 percent and its customers made a bank run.
Well, that sounds bad. Word. That’s why the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in, but only after another bank—Signature Bank, a big lender for the crypto industry—also failed. Starting today, customers of SVB and Signature Bank will be able to access their deposits in full, and Biden assured SVB customers that all of their deposits would be protected, not just the $250,000 covered by the FDIC.
What’s going down in Congress? Meanwhile, the politics surrounding the bank’s demise are a hot mess of a blame game. In 2018, Donald Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act into law. It removed Dodd-Frank capital requirements, and freed up mid-sized firms like SVB from some of the strictest post-2008 financial crisis regulations and cut their compliance costs. In an ironic twist of fate, SVB CEO Greg Beckler was one lender who pushed for the changes.Now fast forward five years later, Democrats are yelling “see?!” to why we needed those regulations.
What happens next? Bank runs are caused by panic and investors start pulling their deposits, so the most immediate concern is that SVB’s failure could spark public distrust in banking institutions. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said regulators had been working over the weekend to stabilize the bank, and Biden assured the public on Monday that the banking system was safe and secure. The federal government has its work cut out for itself—many startups have funds tied up in SVB and the overall losses remain unclear for now.
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Look, we know the world is complicated right now, and the onslaught of news can get a bit… noisy. We’re busy! We’re tired! We want to keep up, but wait, we need a second to understand yesterday’s headline before the breaking news wave hits us. We get it, and we’re here to help.
That’s where Mailbag comes in.
Each week in this space, we’ll answer one reader-submitted question on topics from health and climate to government spending and how that bill became law. Mailbag is a conversation driven by you, for you.
Have something on your mind? Here’s where you can submit your question.
We can’t wait to hear from you! |
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Power Structures
Who Is Fighting the Rise of Fascism in the U.S.?
Republicans are filing terrifying bills by the fistful every week. But as Brynn Tannehill writes, resistance isn't as futile as we may think.
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Plus
American politics has an accountability problem.
And it's also mired in an ocean of disinformation designed to infuriate, distract, and divide.
Plus: Florida, Florida, Florida. Sigh.
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