Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

vikashruhil.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 222 posts

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#171

Post by tylerrobinson »

BearOso wrote: post #161
1270018080 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those banks were all built on a fraudulent and irrational housing bubble. SVB just bought too many bad bonds and got stuck. I don't see the industry-wide effects from this.

We're in a semi-fraudulent housing bubble now. Well, maybe not fraudulent, but unethical, and similar to what was going on in the '00s. Big banks are holding onto large, mostly unoccupied housing developments to create artificial scarcity and drive the prices up. Then they're selling with huge loans to buyers that are going to see value plummet and be unable to pay anything back.

> Big banks are holding onto large, mostly unoccupied housing developments to create artificial scarcity and drive the prices up.

I’m assuming you’re talking about the US. Do you have a source for this claim? There is a problem with vacant houses, but this is the first I’ve heard of the narrative of empty developments implying new houses.

A discussion of vacant housing: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/sta...

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#173

Post by moralestapia »

tiffanyh wrote: post #159
moralestapia wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but why couldn't be a bank that's just like a money vault and that's it. I don't care if I get no interest, I may even pay a fee for that service.

That’s called a safety deposit box.

No, not a safety box. A bank. Like the other ones but without them playing bets with your money. That's literally it.

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#174

Post by olalonde »

jonahbenton wrote: post #158
olalonde wrote: post #72

As a side note, I find it fascinating how fractional reserve banking is not only legal but considered indispensable to the economy. It just sounds like a big scam. Why do private bankers get to create money and decide who gets it? It feels like there has to be a better way.

No, no, quite the contrary. I mean, money itself is an illusion, but within that illusion, understanding accounting and credit money creation is absolutely fundamental. Read this paper. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m...

Thanks for the link. I read "The Mystery of Banking"[0] recently and understand more or less how it works. I realize that it's not the most neutral source but I haven't found any of the other side's arguments very convincing either (including this Bank of England paper though I just read the first few pages, planning on reading it fully later).

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Banking-Murray-N-Rothbard/dp/...

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#175

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #86
DanHulton wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its more about how this information is all very easily researchable, especially now. And most news articles about this situation will have explainers about the finer details in the articles, at least enough to get you up to speed that you don't have to ask commenter on an HN thread for super basic information.

Pretty sure it's just a troll. User has 3 comments including that one. Another is calling someone a son of a whore(I think) in Spanish. And the third is just saying don't customise emacs. The 2 first comments were in 2021. What a strange account. Do comments ever get deleted(by mods) on HN? Looks kind of like an account with lots of comments, all deleted, so it's just 3 comments with a weird 2 year gap in between.

Seems really rare for comments to be actually deleted on here, this site manages to rarely attract actual trolls, fortunately.

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#176

Post by mynameisvlad »

briffle wrote: post #127
xeromal wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here but SVB was the 18th largest bank in the US.

Can you name the 16th and 17th largest banks? Most of us can think of a few big ones, and a handful of local ones.

You think most people don’t know who American Express (17th) are?

Citizens Financial Group (16th) is also quite large but I would be shocked if someone didn’t know of Amex rather than did.

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#177

Post by olalonde »

karpierz wrote: post #139
rpeden wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but loaning out deposits creates money, does it not? Most of that loaned out money is getting deposited into another bank account. And that deposited loan will (minus a percentage kept in reserve) get loaned out again. And so on, etc. I might be missing something important, though.

I guess it's unclear what you mean by "creating money". Anytime I lend money to someone, they're going to spend it on something. They have a liability (their debt to me) and an asset (the thing they "bought", which could be anything from a T-bill, to a bagel). Basically, any debt "creates money."

If you lend money to someone, it's no longer available for you to spend. However, if a bank loans out the money that you deposited, both the borrower and you can spend it. This is known as money creation, as it expands the money supply.

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#178

Post by rsync »

olalonde wrote: post #72

As a side note, I find it fascinating how fractional reserve banking is not only legal but considered indispensable to the economy. It just sounds like a big scam. Why do private bankers get to create money and decide who gets it? It feels like there has to be a better way.

"It just sounds like a big scam. Why do private bankers get to create money and decide who gets it? It feels like there has to be a better way."

It's a time-shift. That's all.

You can absolutely run an economy - and a culture - without leverage and even without debt.

In such an environment it will take multiple lifetimes to accumulate a single lifetimes worth of provision and security ... and we all decided we wanted to provide and secure within our own lifetimes.

... and then we decided we wanted that before we had grandchildren, and then before we even had children.

We're time-shifting and this instability (and, in many ways, incomprehensibility) is the price we pay for it.

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#179

Post by SkyPuncher »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #176
briffle wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name the 16th and 17th largest banks? Most of us can think of a few big ones, and a handful of local ones.

You think most people don’t know who American Express (17th) are? Citizens Financial Group (16th) is also quite large but I would be shocked if someone didn’t know of Amex rather than did.

Most know of them, but would have absolutely no idea how large they are.

Off the top of my head, I guess the largest are:

* JPMorgan

* Goldman

* Wells Fargo

* BoA

Re: Roku filed an 8-K saying that of its $1.9B of cash, $487M is stuck at SVB

#180

Post by hotpotamus »

dehrmann wrote: post #155
hotpotamus wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want the government to backstop every single risk for businesses and investors, then prepare to pay a lot more in taxes.

Making the leap from ensuring money saved in safe, heavily regulated entities to "backstopping every single risk" is disingenuous. There are risks businesses should have to think about. Safety of money in their bank isn't one of them.

Why shouldn't they have to worry? FDIC insurance limits are hardly uncommon knowledge. I have more than $250K dollars and I certainly worry about how best to manage it.
Post reply on HN