The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 took a surprising twist. (Note: The Signature Bank also failed.)

Almost everyone in the nation knows that if you have money in a bank, and it fails, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures your deposits up to $250,000 (for a married couple it is $500,000). Very few of us have that much cash in a bank. Since most bank accounts are covered by that limit, we weren’t concerned for the depositors in SVB.

But surprise, surprise. SVB (and Signature) had wealthy depositors with huge cash balances; only about 8% of the money in the SVB accounts was covered by FDIC. Some of the SVB deposits were by millionaires in China.

We learned that not only are those depositors wealthy, they are big donors to Democrats. And it is Democrats in Congress and President Biden who are largely responsible for the collapse. As I explained last week, the banks failed because they held near-zero interest bonds. Since January 2022, interest rates jumped, which was caused by high inflation starting in 2021, which was caused by an excessive $5,000,000,000 in federal spending.

So, did these wealthy Democrat donors admit, “Well, it’s my fault so I’ll accept my losses and make a better decision next time?” NO! They called President Biden and demanded that he bail them out! And he did.

President Biden proudly announced that all deposits in SVB and Signature, not just ones under $250,000, would be paid in full. And he emphasized, “no losses associated with the resolution of (the banks) will be borne by the taxpayer.”

So, where will that money come from, if not from taxpayers? The FDIC. The FDIC maintains a balance funded by fees paid by all banks. However, the FDIC reports their “Insurance Fund” has less than half of the $262 billion that might be needed. The additional funds for the bailout will come from higher fees forced on the 4,150 banks that did not fail. Since almost everyone with a bank account is a taxpayer, Mr. President, it is the taxpayers who will bail out the wealthy depositors, including the Chinese.

The “surprising twist” is that the wealthy depositors lose nothing, and you and I pay the price for their mistakes. It should be the other way around.

To be fair, the President and Treasury Secretary Yellen have a responsibility to calm the nation and prevent a run on all the banks. But hinting that ALL bank deposits would be covered by the federal government creates a major hazard. Bank officials, with no responsibility to properly manage their clients’ funds, could make reckless loans based on social and environmental beliefs while denying loans to solid businesses. This could end up like the student loan debacle. When the government took over from the banks, students got loans regardless of the prospects of paying back the money.

Back to the Silicon Valley Bank… Why wasn’t the Federal Reserve alert to the pending collapse? Maybe it was because the CEO of SVB is also on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Wow. SVB even fooled Forbes Media and others into giving them an excellent rating.

President Biden emphatically announced the bank officers would be fired because they failed. Can he do that to a private entity? On the other hand, there are several officials under his direct control that he should fire because they failed. I won’t name any, but you know who they are, including Cabinet Secretaries.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, former president Donald Trump reportedly will be handcuffed and tossed in jail by the Prosecuting Attorney in New York City. The charge is that he wrote a few checks totaling $130,000 in 2016 to quiet an extortion attempt by Stormy Daniels, the once favorite client of attorney, Michael Avenatti.

At the same time, in Washington a Congressional committee reports that bank records show President Biden and his family received a million dollars in a questionable payment from Chinese Communists. And, there are a dozen similar bank transactions under investigation. Financial information found on Hunter Biden’s computer adds to the intrigue.

As possible court cases work through the judicial system over the next several months, Las Vegas will take bets on whether Trump and Biden will be sharing a Presidential Debate stage, or a cell.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

(Speech to the American Bankers Association, 1923) “You have a fine organization. I understand you have ten thousand here… and if you count the ones in the various federal prisons, it brings your total membership up to around thirty thousand.”

“See where Congress passed a two-billion-dollar bill to relieve bankers’ mistakes… You can always count on us helping those who have lost part of their fortune.” DT #1715, Jan. 22, 1932

“If a Bank fails in China, they behead the men at the head of it that was responsible. If one fails over here, we write the men up in the Magazines (praising them).” WA #217, Feb. 6, 1927