Supposedly, The Taxpayers Will Not Bear The Cost On Saving Failed Banks

By William Teach March 14, 2023 – 6:45 am

Yeah, yeah, we’ll see

Here’s who is paying to restore Silicon Valley, Signature Bank deposits

The federal government mobilized immediately in response to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, working over the weekend to insure depositors who had more than $200 billion of venture capital and high-tech start-up money stored in the two banks.

But unlike the 2008 financial crisis, during which Congress passed new legislation in order to salvage the country’s largest banks, the current rescue plan is smaller in scale, pertains to only two banks, and isn’t additional taxpayer money — for now.

In order to make sure depositors can still withdraw funds from their accounts — the vast majority of which exceeded the $250,000 limit for standard insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) — regulators say they’re pulling from a special fund maintained by the FDIC called the deposit insurance fund (DIF).

“For the two banks that were put into receivership, the FDIC will use funds from the deposit insurance fund to ensure that all of its depositors are made whole,” a Treasury official told reporters on Sunday night. “In that case the deposit insurance funded is bearing the risk. This is not funds from the taxpayer.”

“For now.” The rest of the piece highlights that the money is coming from insurance premiums banks pay into the fund along with interest from various investments. So, we’ll see. For now. Which could create issues when other banks crash, and hooks up the rich who did not properly diversify their assets.

And now some ass-kissing from Politico

How Biden saved Silicon Valley startups: Inside the 72 hours that transformed U.S. banking

On Sunday afternoon, an exhausted group of Biden administration officials gathered to put the finishing touches on a hastily composed plan to stave off a nationwide banking crisis.

Just a little more than 72 hours had passed since Silicon Valley Bank suddenly collapsed, rocking the tech industry and igniting fears that the U.S. was on the verge of a financial meltdown. (snip)

The swift and forceful action to rescue depositors at the two failed midsize lenders rewrote crucial banking guardrails in ways that could reverberate for years. It put the Biden administration’s stamp — for good or ill — on the sector’s future financial stability, while sending a message about the government’s willingness to rescue private businesses in new ways. It also was done without passing a single new act of Congress or holding hearings among elected officials in recent days.

Yeah, well, we’ll see how the week goes, because the stock market was an utter mess Monday, and trading on many bank stocks had to be halted. In Europe, as well.

Remember, everyone was saying that SVB was an awesome bank just two weeks ago. What were the regulators doing? All the Biden sycophants are Blaming Trump, but

Silicon Valley Bank had more red flags than a CCP meeting but regulators cared about climate not bank risks

Despite skeins of bank regulations supposed to prevent another financial meltdown, Silicon Valley Bank, the country’s 17th-biggest bank, went down in flames last week. It was the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history and has prompted a lot of finger-pointing.

Management messed up by not addressing a serious cash shortage until it was too late.  Some blame Peter Thiel, saying the venture capital investor’s call for small tech firms to withdraw deposits from SVB   accelerated its demise. Others are critical of Goldman Sachs, SVB’s adviser who signed off on their ill-advised decision to try to sell equity, thus alerting investors to their capital shortfall.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but when a financial institution goes under, you have to wonder: where were the regulators? After all, there were more red flags than you see at a CCP convention. (snip)

Thanks to trillions of dollars in government spending during and after the pandemic and to massive money printing by the Federal Reserve, banks nationwide enjoyed a massive influx of deposits beginning in 2020. Most, including Silicon Valley Bank, put much of that money into investments like Treasury bonds and other fixed-income securities that nosedived when rates went up. Federal Depository Insurance Company (FDIC) filings show that US banks took over $600 billion worth of unrealized losses last year…a major red flag.

And the regulators?

They were not. Consider the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the body created in 2010 after the financial crisis, which was meant to avert just this sort of collapse.  The council is chaired today by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and includes 9 other voting members including Fed Chair Jay Powell, the heads of the FDIC and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), Gary Gensler, head of the SEC.

The council last met on February 10 via videoconference. The readout of that meeting shows the group previewed its 2023 priorities, which included “climate-related financial risks, nonbank financial intermediation, Treasury market resilience, and risks related to digital assets.”

Perhaps they should have been looking at the financial stability of banks in a market where rising interest rates were causing issues, along with lots of red flags in crypto. Regardless, let’s hope things do not go downhill, and this is a momentary blip.

Read: Supposedly, The Taxpayers Will Not Bear The Cost On Saving Failed Banks »

Posted in Economy | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden Upsets Warmists By Approving Alaskan Oil Project

By William Teach March 13, 2023 – 3:00 pm

These would be the same climate cultists who refuse to give up their own use of fossil fuels. But, Biden did throw them a bone

Biden Administration Approves Huge Alaska Oil Project

electric vehicleThe Biden administration on Monday will formally approve a huge oil drilling project in Alaska known as Willow, according to two people familiar with the decision, despite widespread opposition because of its likely environmental and climate impacts.

The president will also impose sweeping restrictions on offshore oil leasing in the Arctic Ocean and across Alaska’s North Slope in an apparent effort to temper criticism over the Willow decision and, as one administration official put it, to form a “firewall” to limit future oil leases in the region. The Interior Department also is expected to issue new rules to protect more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska from oil and gas leasing.

The restrictions, however, are unlikely to offset concerns that the $8 billion Willow project, led by oil giant ConocoPhillips, will have the potential to produce more than 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years.

Burning all that oil could release nearly 280 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. On an annual basis, that would translate into 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution, equal to adding nearly two million cars to the roads each year. The United States, the second biggest polluter on the planet after China, emits about 5.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Well, if all the fossil fuels haters would stop traveling with fossil fuels, then it wouldn’t be a problem, right?

“It’s insulting that Biden thinks this will change our minds about the Willow project,” said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “Protecting one area of the Arctic so you can destroy another doesn’t make sense, and it won’t help the people and wildlife who will be upended by the Willow project.”

I’m guessing the nuts are not appeased. As far as the people, well, this will directly generate cash for Alaska citizens, as the other projects do. And jobs.

The decision is sure to invite legal challenges from environmental groups.

How so? It’s perfectly legal. If the lawyers were smart they’d ask those suing if they live in Alaska, and, if they’d given up fossil fueled travel.

Read: Biden Upsets Warmists By Approving Alaskan Oil Project »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach March 13, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible fossil fuels caused heat snow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Twitchy, with a post on Brandon blaming Trump for SVD and then running away from questions.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: No Big COVID Surge This Winter

By William Teach March 13, 2023 – 10:30 am

Why do I read this article and think that ABC and Good Morning America are totally bummed out that huge numbers of people were not getting COVID, not getting it bad, and not dying?

The winter COVID wave that wasn’t: Why the US didn’t see a surge

When the United States saw COVID-19 cases and deaths rise around this past Christmas and New Year’s, many Americans feared the country was in for a third winter wave.

But as quickly as both metrics went up, they also came down. Weekly cases and deaths in late winter 2022-23 are on par with what was seen in spring 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, the Biden administration issued a bleak warning that as many as 100 million Americans could be infected during a COVID-19 wave in the fall and winter.

However, as the third anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the virus to be a global pandemic approaches, it appears that the U.S. has survived its first winter without a massive COVID-19 surge.

Experts told ABC News that a combination of more immunity, better treatments, less severe infections and more people following mitigation measures likely played a role.

More immunity. From people having it prior, hence, natural immunity, especially since the vaccines really do not work that well? Almost no one is masking, almost no one is isolating or keeping their distance. People are back to shaking hands (which is a bummer, because the hands of many people are dirty).

Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said there is some inconsistency when comparing past winter surges to this winter because there was a lack of overall testing and a declined use of home tests this winter.

However, the lower number of hospitalizations and deaths is likely a good indication of a less severe season this year compared to previous years, he said.

This is a good thing, right? Why do I get the feeling that they wanted it to be a bad winter? Is it just from all that time of the media being happy that so many were getting sick and dying while Trump was president, so that they could Blame Trump and such? Or while Biden was president, so that the media could pimp the Leftist notion of telling people to Obey government?

During this most recent winter, an updated bivalent booster is also available, which — although only 16.2% of the population has received it — has likely offered at least some protection.

Last year, the CDC estimated that, as of May 2022, more than 94% of the U.S. population has COVID-19-induced antibodies either from past infection or vaccination.

In other words, boosters really didn’t make a difference. Interestingly, more people were dying when a majority were getting the vaccine and getting boosted, versus now when most didn’t bother. Really, at this point, almost no one is jabbed and no one is wearing masks (and half the people who voluntarily wear a masks wear it wrong): it’s either natural immunity or COVID wearing out. Or both.

Read: Surprise: No Big COVID Surge This Winter »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

Who’s Up For Lab-grown Milk To Stop Climate Doom?

By William Teach March 13, 2023 – 7:00 am

Thanks, no thanks. I prefer the real thing. That said, how soon till the Cult of Climastrology advocates that real milk be fazed out because moocows are Bad, and get politicians to push this? If you think that’s too far fetched, a conspiracy theory, you haven’t been paying attention (I’m reading the paywalled article via the webcache)

Moooove over: How single-celled yeasts are doing the work of 1,500-pound cows

climate cowThe first course was a celery root soup lush with whole milk. The last was a spice cake topped with maple cream cheese frosting served with a side of ice cream. And then a latte with its fat cap of glossy foam. In all, a delicious lunch. Maybe a little heavy on the dairy.

Only this dairy was different. It was not the product of a cow or soybean or nut. The main ingredient of this milk was made by microbes in a lab, turned into tasty and recognizable food, and then served to a hungry reporter.

Lab-grown meat is coming. But lab-grown dairy has already arrived.

Dozens of companies have sprouted up in recent months to develop milk proteins made by yeasts or fungi, including Perfect Day, the California-based dairy company that laid out this unusual spread. The companies’ products are already on store shelves in the form of yogurt, cheese and ice cream, often labeled “animal-free.” The burgeoning industry, which calls itself “precision fermentation,” has its own trade organization, and big-name food manufacturers such as Nestlé, Starbucks and General Mills have already signed on as customers.

Why not just use, you know, the real thing? The cows are right there.

The rapid advancement in this area has sparked hope for a revolution in the dairy industry, and not just because it’s kinder to the cows. Precision dairy doesn’t have cholesterol, lactose, growth hormones or antibiotics (though those with dairy allergies should beware). And cattle, for beef or dairy, is said to be the No. 1 agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide. Consumers concerned about climate change or animal welfare have been anticipating the U.S. launch of cultivated meat, which is grown in labs from animal cells, but cultivated dairy could have just as much of an impact on the environment — with fewer regulatory hurdles to clear.

So, you must suffer to have the fake stuff. Hilariously, the same people who will buy into this are so often unhinged over genetically modified foods

Despite widespread acceptance of soy, oat and almond milk, U.S. consumers, even vegan ones, continue to be underwhelmed by plant-based cheese options: Mostly made of starch and oil, they often lack the flavor or texture (no gooey strings, not enough bounce) of real cheese. And cheese is especially bothersome for the environment, more so than its liquid counterpart: Making one pound of cheese requires 10 pounds (or about five quarts) of cow’s milk. The World Economic Forum and many scientific reports suggest cheese generates the third-highest emissions in agriculture after beef and lamb.

Well, for one thing, it’s not real cheese. It’s not cheese, as not made with dairy. Also, those fake “milks” use vast amounts of water and land. What are the issues with making this new type of fake milk? Reading the rest of the article, it doesn’t sound pleasant.

Read: Who’s Up For Lab-grown Milk To Stop Climate Doom? »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Will This Be Bank Panic Monday?

By William Teach March 13, 2023 – 6:45 am

This Breitbart piece went up around 6pm Sunday, hopefully it’s all for naught

U.S. Scrambles to Prepare Financial Backstop to Stave Off Banking Panic

The U.S. government is scrambling on Sunday night to prepare emergency measures to shore up banks and the U.S. economy as the nation braces for a potential bank run on Monday.

The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve are jointly preparing to launch a program to backstop deposits in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $250,000, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Federal Reserve is also preparing to ease the terms of banks’ access to its discount window, an emergency lending facility for banks to raise cash.

The emergency preparations are not yet official. The Fed and the U.S. Treasury have not publicly commented on measures they are considering to stave off a rush of demand for bank account deposits to be withdrawn.

Silicon Valley Bank, the 16the largest bank by assets in the U.S., failed on Friday after depositors rushed to withdraw deposits last week. This was the largest bank failure since the financial crisis and the second largest in U.S. history. Now the government is worried that customers may try to withdraw funds from other banks.

Hopefully the feds are prepared this Monday morning, and the people who know about this stuff keep things calm. And that people do not make a run on their bank. A lot of people are concerned with their big companies being able to make payroll this week. Janet Yellen is doing the right thing in keeping a cool, calm demeanor. Unfortunately, Joe came back from Delaware late Saturday. He can’t really offer anything of substance, but, hey, it is for the best for investors and big bankers and such to see him at the White House.

Around the same time as the Breitbart article we get

How many middle class folks have over $250k in savings/investments through SVB? Versus how many are rich folks who took the chance in keeping their money in a Woke bank too concerned about stuff that doesn’t make or protect money? As Vivek Ramaswamy said

“Silicon Valley Bank is one of the biggest evangelists of DEI and ESG – environmental and social factors,” he said. “In fact, just January of last year, barely over a year ago… they made a $5 billion commitment to sustainable finance to actually make for what they call a climate-ready, healthier planet. Well, guess what? That $5 billion would have served their balance sheet – how about a healthier balance sheet instead? And that’s something that actually, it’s a lesson that everyone else ought to learn by example. The lesson they ought to learn is not when you waste your money and burn it in a financial trash fire that… the taxpayers of this country are there to save you. No! It actually ought to be a lesson for everybody else that a healthy balance sheet is the responsibility of a bank, not… what they call a healthy planet.”

And in New York, state regulators shut down Signature Bank on Sunday, in order to protect investors of the bank which did a lot of business in crypto, though they had been trying to reduce that business. Then you had Silvergate Bank going into voluntary liquidation a few days ago, another that was heavy into Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and like SVB, involved too much in Woke stuff, ‘climate change’, and other things which put their assets at risk.

Read: Will This Be Bank Panic Monday? »

Posted in Current Affairs, Economy | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach March 12, 2023 – 12:58 pm

…is a wonder field that would be perfect for solar panels, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Gateway Pundit, with a post on St. Greta deleting a post on the world ending in 2023.

It’s ladies out and about week.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach March 12, 2023 – 10:17 am

Patriotic Pinup Harry Ekman

Happy Sunday! Another wonderful day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The snow is falling (it’ll turn to rain before I post this post, but, got to see some), the geese are still honking, and the Devils are still playing really well. This pinup is by Harry Ekman with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Irons In The Fire discusses Democrats following the new speech standard
  2. Geller Report covers a top J6 Dem saying they didn’t review the video
  3. Flag And Cross notes the FBI trying to disarm Americans in the hospital
  4. Da Techguy’s Blog has 5 depressing one-liners
  5. Common Cents Blog covers the Silicon Valley Bank collapse
  6. Cold Fury wonders why the gender confused movements is so focused on children
  7. Climate Depot shows there is 3rd world concern over the 1st world controlling sunlight
  8. Blazing Cat Fur notes a dad using moose antlers to kill the sex offender stalking his daughter
  9. American Greatness has a handy J6 factsheet
  10. Ace Of Spades wonders how you celebrated International Women’s Day
  11. Watts Up With That? says there’s not energy transition, just addition
  12. Real Climate Science says some are incapable of learning from the SVB collapse
  13. No Tricks Zone notes Germany to fine people with non-climate friendly heating systems
  14. Jo Nova discusses Pacific islands still not shrinking for ‘climate change’ sea rise
  15. And last, but, not least, Green Jihad covers shameless attacks on ‘climate change’ skeptic

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

COVID Cult Scientist Says Masks Totally Work

By William Teach March 12, 2023 – 7:00 am

The COVID cultists just won’t give up, and Zeynep Tufekci is super excited to tell us why the Cochrane study doesn’t stand up in an op-ed

Here’s Why the Science Is Clear That Masks Work

The debate over masks’ effectiveness in fighting the spread of the coronavirus intensified recently when a respected scientific nonprofit said its review of studies assessing measures to impede the spread of viral illnesses found it was “uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.”

Now the organization, Cochrane, says that the way it summarized the review was unclear and imprecise, and that the way some people interpreted it was wrong.

“Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane review shows that ‘masks don’t work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation,” Karla Soares-Weiser, the editor in chief of the Cochrane Library, said in a statement.

“The review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses,” Soares-Weiser said, adding, “Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask wearing itself reduces people’s risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses.”

Obviously, this cherry picked statement, which doesn’t fully support the actual study, makes super scientist Tufekci and her NY Times Comrades very happy, because…oh, wait, she’s not a scientist, she has a degree in sociology, and forced masking was never about science. It was always about compliance.

“Mask mandates, social distancing, the other shutdowns we had in terms of even restaurants and things like that — if places like New York City didn’t do that, the number of deaths would have been much higher,” he told me. “I’m very confident of that statement.”

So the evidence is relatively straightforward: Consistently wearing a mask, preferably a high-quality, well-fitting one, provides protection against the coronavirus.

Yet, we were told that it was OK to not wear a mask while eating in a restaurant. The number of COVID related deaths and infections was much higher during the time of forced masking, even with the vaccines, than prior to forced masking. If pollen was getting into the mask, then COVID could get in. Regardless, government decided it would force compliance on the peasants, all while the Elites would play games with removing their own masks

https://twitter.com/vpp2021/status/1634422284533526528

How often did we see it play out where they did not wear masks? Remember the Super Bowl in California? How about Joe Biden and all his people who would come up to the podium and remove the mask? If they worked, wouldn’t wearing it while speaking inside be the exact freaking time to wear it to stop COVID from spreading? It was a scam. A way to force compliance with government mandates. Hence why a hardcore leftist sociologist would heavily support masking.

Besides being an insufferable cult, why the need for Enovid if masks work? Enovid, which is not approved for use in Canada (or the US) yet, is supposed to be over 95% effective at killing off COVID and other viruses. It’s also expensive, so, this is a nice case of Elite privilege. These people are all nuts. And, separately, how much pollution are they creating? You are supposed to dispose an N95 at least daily.

Read: COVID Cult Scientist Says Masks Totally Work »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Liberal World | 48 Comments | Trackback URL

Energy Secretary Says We Can Learn A Lot From China On Climate Crisis (scam)

By William Teach March 11, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Why, yes, she did take a fossil fueled flight to Austin, Texas

Energy Secretary Granholm claims US can ‘learn from what China is doing’ on climate change

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm claimed Friday that Americans can “learn from what China is doing” in combating climate change.

During an interview at the annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, Granholm sang the praises of China for its efforts to reduce climate change, claiming the country is actually “very sensitive” about the issue, more so than the United States.

Granholm made these claims despite the fact that China recently hit its coal-production record last year. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “55% of China’s energy” now comes from fossil fuel “compared to 11% in the U.S.” (snip)

Granholm said, “I mean, there’s a couple of countries that we know are outliers and don’t care,” but clarified that China isn’t actually one of them.

She then praised China’s climate change efforts, saying, “But, I think China has done — has been very sensitive, and has actually invested a lot in their solutions, to achieve their goals.”

Granholm added, “So we’re — we’re hopeful that, you know, we can all learn from what China is doing.”

The secretary also noted, “the amount of money that they’re investing in clean energy is actually, you know, encouraging.”

What can we learn? Well, China talks a big game, but, doesn’t practice what they preach. Much like most of the Elite Warmist, including Granholm. They are selling substandard, underpriced solar panels around the world, cornering the market, particularly in 1st World nations who have great lives and nothing else to care about other than the climate scam. China does a wonderful job in having a centralized, authoritarian government. Is that what Granholm wants us to learn? How about their forced labor from children and Muslims?

Read: Energy Secretary Says We Can Learn A Lot From China On Climate Crisis (scam) »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Democrats, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove