The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two different giant banks is fueling financial insecurity and angst amongst an already rattled American public and is prompting a serious injury management effort by President Biden.
Throw in Republicans’ threats to lift the retirement age and reduce Social Security and Medicare and you’ve got a recipe for a really nervous citizens to go to the polls subsequent yr.
Biden and Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren are already scurrying to guarantee nervous Americans the financial institution system is “safe” and keep away from blame for the financial institution collapses, saying they have been resulting from lax regulatory insurance policies beneath Donald Trump.
Blame Trump is often the Democrats’ reply for each drawback.
But Biden himself is now taking warmth for the banking collapses.
“The bottom line is this: Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe,” Biden stated.
That promise is unlikely to assuage the general public, which is already coping with rampant inflation, rising mortgage rates of interest and now monetary instability within the banking trade. The banking collapses couldn’t come at a worst time for Biden, who is anticipated to announce quickly that he’s operating for re-election.
The Federal Reserve is investigating SVB’s failure regardless that skyrocketing rates of interest permitted by the Fed to guard Biden from getting blamed for inflation at the moment are enjoying a job in Americans’ rising financial insecurity. The Fed had been anticipated to lift charges once more however now could be unlikely to try this given the banking collapses.
In addition to the SVB collapse, the federal authorities over the weekend introduced the failure of New York-based Signature Bank, the place one of many board of administrators is former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank.
“Mr. Frank’s extensive experience as a Congressman, and particularly as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, led the board to conclude that he should be a member of the board,” based on a press release about Frank’s appointment by the financial institution.
The liberal icon received greater than $121,000 in compensation for being on the board final yr, in addition to $180,000 in shares, based on an organization submitting.
Now Frank is insisting that Signature might have stayed open if not for overly aggressive ways by the federal government.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Frank blamed crypto for “destabilizing” the monetary system — regardless that beneath his and the board’s steerage Signature relied on crypto as a development car.
The “bottom line” – Biden likes to say – is that Americans haven’t any extra belief within the authorities’s skill to maintain their cash protected and maintain a serious recession from creating.
Voters will likely be going to the polls in 2024 nervous about their monetary futures – and now even staples like Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans like presidential candidate Nikki Haley are floating plans to tamper with Social Security and lift the retirement age – the so-called “third rail” of American politics.
Biden has tried to capitalize on these plans by scaring voters however has no plan to maintain Social Security solvent over the subsequent few many years.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”