This time, let's learn from bank failures

This time, let’s learn from bank failures

I hope the failure of Silicon Valley Bank is not a harbinger to banking and financial woes of a colossal magnitude that can have sweeping global repercussions [“Protecting yourself after bank collapses,” News, March 15].

However, I still wonder how many average Americans on Main Street have $250,000 or more in their bank accounts. How many have at least $25,000?

Who’s bailing out Silicon Valley Bank? Ultimately, it’s likely to be average Americans who pay taxes on meager salaries that barely allow them to make both ends meet.

In the past, we have repeatedly heard official statements that the decision by the Treasury to backstop all deposits at these banks — not just those up to the $250,000 insured under federal law — rested on a judgment that it was necessary to avoid a wider “systemic” meltdown.

Unfortunately, be it Republican or Democrat, White House or Congress, financial props are liberally and inequitably given to those who pay the least taxes compared to what they earn.

With enough past lessons and now the unfolding present, I hope U.S. banking regulators keep their eyes wide open and preempt bank failures that get bailed out at taxpayers’ expense with the convenient financial justification “too big to fail.”

 — Atul M. Karnik, Woodside

The March 15 news articles “Fed rebuked on bank” and “Protecting yourself after bank collapses” were informative and factual.

As a retired bank risk manager, I can appreciate the simple reasons why the two banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, failed, and the prudent and common-sense approach that the article advocates for your readers.

Such information may help reduce the possibility of any panic and distress in future public banking crises.
 — James Bianco, Melville