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Banks (Finance)

Republican lawmakers blame "woke" agenda for Silicon Valley Bank failure

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Right-wing media figures and Republican elected officials have repeated the claim that a "woke" agenda is responsible for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, despite evidence that a range of compounded factors, including Donald Trump-era cuts to regulations, the bank's concentration in tech startups, and rising interest rates, played a significant role. Republican lawmakers have continued to push their nationwide legislative agenda aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, environmental activism, and other "woke" causes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Republican lawmakers, including House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, have repeatedly blamed the "woke" agenda for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, despite evidence pointing to a range of compounded factors.
  • The bank's board is overwhelmingly white, wealthy, and less diverse than that at any of the nation's top five banks, according to their own annual reports.
  • Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller called for subpoenas to investigate the bank's spending on "scams" of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
  • Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus baselessly asserted on Fox News that the bank was focused on "diversity and all of the woke issues" rather than shareholder returns.
  • Black Americans invoked the term "woke" to signal awareness of racist patterns and systemic abuse, but the word was largely lost meaning as the American right reappropriated it as a boogeyman.
  • GOP state lawmakers across the US have introduced proposals to dismantle "DEI" and "ESG" initiatives using similar rhetoric.
  • In a speech in October, former President Trump railed against "big banks like Chase and Bank of America" who have "done much less for the Hispanic community than they should" because they have "gone woke."
  • Donald Trump Jr told Fox that his news aggregation app was a victim of the "woke agenda," and that he was unfairly penalised for his business.

Statistics:

  • The bank's board is made up of 100% white members, according to their own annual reports.
  • The bank's 2020 annual report listed only one board member as a woman, and did not mention any board members from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.
  • According to the Fed, the bank's concentration in tech startups increased by 47% between 2019 and 2020.

Sources:

  • Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) -

"SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices" —Donald Trump Jr. pic.twitter.com/nGw6GvZTRs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2023

  • The Wall Street Journal -

"A bank may have been distracted by diversity demands"

  • US Senator Elizabeth Warren -

"The bank's collapse is a direct result of the former president's 2018 law effectively repealing parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act"

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