On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the role the banking industry and its lobbyists play in weakening regulations.
Every federal lobbyist that has registered to work on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank swung through the revolving door between the federal government and private sector, according to OpenSecrets. They also found that the cryptocurrency industry vastly expanded its political influence web with federal lobbying spending exploding to a whopping $21.6 million in 2022.
Before Silicon Valley Bank’s failure, its former CEO Greg Becker backed two tech industry lobbying groups that tried to influence the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and pushed to cut corporate taxes, according to records reviewed by CNBC.
Guest:
Jesse Eisinger, senior editor and reporter at ProPublica, and author of the The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives
Web Resources:
ProPublica: The Fed Keeps Getting More Powerful. Is It Bad for America?
ProPublica: Wealthy Executives Make Millions Trading Competitors’ Stock With Remarkable Timing
CNN: The facts on Trump’s 2018 loosening of regulations on banks like SVB
Open Secrets: Collapsed Silicon Valley Bank enlisted ‘revolving door’ lobbyists to push its policy agenda in Washington
San Francisco Chronicle: ‘They’re all just pack animals’: Silicon Valley Bank collapse highlights tech hypocrisy, experts say
The Intercept: CHEERING SILICON VALLEY BANK BAILOUT, GAVIN NEWSOM DOESN’T MENTION HE’S A CLIENT
