The Joe Biden Banking Crisis – WSJ

A great imponderable was Joe Biden s decision of Sunday, March 12. Would letting Silicon Valley Bank fail the normal way, with big customers required to accept modest haircuts on their uninsured deposits, cause a nationwide bank run and economic calamity?

Mr. Biden must think so but the information isn t available to let us judge the matter independently.

We do know he got a lot of help in deciding to bail out Silicon Valley Bank s uninsured depositors from its uninsured depositors, including tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who worked the phones and social media and skew heavily Democratic in their political giving.

We know that lobbying for the bailout was California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democratic up-and-comer whose personal business and nonprofit ties with Silicon Valley Bank were extensive.

Did the bank s progressive dabblings contribute to its failure or its rescue? Its investment in political window dressing at least tells you what management believed about its political environment.

via www.wsj.com

Holman Jenkins.