Biden's claim that Silicon Valley Bank bailout wouldn't cost taxpayers contradicts fiscal reality: economist - Fox Business

The Biden administration has insisted that the actions FDIC regulators took to protect customers amid Silicon Valley Bank’s historic implosion will come at "no cost" to taxpayers, but an economics expert tells Fox Business that’s not the case.

"The very idea of bailing out SVB, Signature Bank and others, without costing taxpayers, doesn’t even pass the smell test," said EJ Antoni, research fellow in regional economics with The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis.

Following the collapse of SVB, the second largest in U.S.history, the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC released a joint statement saying that "no losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer."

The third and most recent mistake, Antoni said, was "bailing out" wealth depositors who made the choice to not buy private insurance on their large deposits, "thereby creating a massive moral hazard and mindbogglingly dangerous precedent going forward."

A Brinks armored truck sits parked in front of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters March 10, 2023, in Santa Clara, California.

Antoni told Fox Business that the Biden administration is essentially "gaslighting us" and playing "word games" to not be associated with the mistakes made during the 2008 bank bailout.