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Urgent: Sign the petition now

ycombinator.com

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Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#241

Post by ah765 »

YC has made a ton of money for itself already, why should the average taxpayer be responsible for helping them?

Most people will agree it's unfortunate that depositors might lose some of the money they deposited. It's also unfortunate if you get robbed or your business catches on fire. That doesn't mean the government is obligated to reimburse you for your losses. Next time, consider paying for more insurance.

Also, you're probably not losing all your money. You'll get back what the FDIC can recover, which they do for free, and most people guess it's going to be upwards of 80%. Much better than the result of robbery or fires that ordinary people put up with. You can also get a loan to deal with the short term, from your investors or from a bank. High interest? Deal with it.

Even in the worst case, people are working for startups knowing that they are high risk positions. You are much better off on than the average American, even in the worst case. Your personal finances are unaffected. Think before asking people poorer than you for money.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#242

Post by favflam »

afavour wrote: post #57

[deleted]

Also, people should pay attention when a bank is missing a Chief Risk Officer for 8 months during the most volatile period in fixed income history when Fed funds rate moved 400bps.

Also, it is not a good look with SVB's CEO personally lobbied to be excluded from stress tests that more than likely would have prevented SVB from YOLO'ing on 10 yr duration MBS.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#244

Post by muyuu »

garry wrote: post #144
axlee wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

110% agree. At some point, risk HAS to be treated as what it is, risk, rather than just "another way to do things". We have so many banks treating risk as what it is, and pricing for it, well these people decided to go to another bank to get funding, well deal with it. It's not like the average citizen has this luxury.

The equity holders and management of SVB are likely to be wiped. In the petition we specifically call this out: we are not asking for their risks to be "socialized." Depositors have a reasonable expectation that when they choose a bank (especially a publicly traded bank that is regulated) that their deposits are safe. If this is not true, then most people will only bank with the largest banks. That's not a good situa…

you're essentially asking for SVB, and whatever other bank in the same position, to take the entirety of the risk beyond per-contract insurance at no cost for you

sounds kinda rich tbh

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#245

Post by snow_mac »

YC is not asking for a bailout. YC is asking for the FDIC to ensure depositors beyond the $250,000 guarantee. One hand I see why the FDIC would not (EG wealthy individuals), but on the other hand I could see why the FDIC must ensure that accounts over $250,000 remain solvent: companies of all sizes generally have balances well over $250,000.

I think this is probably a unique case that hasn't happened much, because most banks that have failed where the smaller ones in 2008.

I vote that the FDIC insure and require insurance for accounts up to $5,000,000. But after you exceed that amount, you can no longer deposit money at that bank. Like the $250,000 limit on insurance should mean that you are capped at $250,000 in balance.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#246

Post by [deleted] »

garry wrote: post #90
nocoiner wrote: post #8

LOL, nope. Not interested in taking another spin on the “privatize gain, socialize loss” merry-go-round. The banks had to be saved in 2008 because they were, like, the financial system. I don’t see why private companies and funds that are much less integral to the functioning of the economy as a whole should be saved by the public fisc. Sorry about your disruption.

These are depositors of a bank. Most startups only have one bank. Startups should live or die because they create good products and solve real problems in real markets, not because they made an arbitrary choice like which bank they started using. There's also a real risk of bank contagion if it is only safe to deposit in the largest banks.

[deleted]

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#247

Post by morelisp »

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #108
owlglass wrote: post #18

They're asking to "be made whole," but are "not asking for a bailout." What exactly do they want, then?

The most plausible idea would be some other bank buys SVB. Depending on the current state of SVB’s balance sheet (which is not publicly known), other banks may be willing to pay as little as $0 or there may be no takers.

Which is what the FDIC is going to try to achieve anyway, and doesn't need a bathetic orison to Yellen to happen.

.... which is maybe a weak signal that nobody's biting yet and YC feels the need to escalate to actual government money ASAP.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#248

Post by jackblemming »

nightmarish wrote: post #105
baq wrote: post #24

Pathetic to be honest. Yes it’s bad. Yes it’ll get worse if no buyer at 100 cents to the dollar is found by Monday morning. And yet, literally everyone involved signed up for it! It isn’t like there aren’t other banks? The thing had a circus for its risk management office. The big mighty all-knowing VC firms shouldn’t go around crying like babies and signing petitions but be organizing bridge loans until FDIC, the mo…

[flagged]

The rich want to have their cake and eat it too. If they keep pushing their luck the guillotines will be brought out eventually. It's probably about time they realize they don't get to always win.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#249

Post by DrBenCarson »

garry wrote: post #191
toomuchtodo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SVB lobbied to not be regulated as strongly as other banks, and won. You would be perfectly fine at most other banks. This was a choice. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/11/silicon-val... Edit: https://www.levernews.com/svb-chief-pressed-lawmakers-to-wea... > Eight years before the second-largest bank failure in American history occurred this week, the bank’s president personally pressed Congress to redu…

We are asking for new regulation that would prevent this from occurring.

Losing your business is a powerful way to learn a lesson.

Don't ask taxpayers to fix your mistakes for you.

Re: Urgent: Sign the petition now

#250

Post by josalhor »

Everyone here seems pretty negative about the petition based on the title that says "YC Is Asking for a Bailout", when actually the content of the post is quite different:

> Small business depositors at Silicon Valley Bank should be made whole. Regulators need to conduct a backstop of depositors. We are not asking for a bank bailout.

With emphasis on that "We are not asking for a bank bailout". They are also asking for more regulation.

Taking rapid action to make sure this does not cause a domino effect seems like a pretty good idea if you ask me.

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