20 banks that are sitting on huge potential securities losses—as was SVB

Silicon Valley Bank has failed following a run on deposits, after its parent company’s share price crashed a record 60% on Thursday.

Trading of SVB Financial Group’s SIVB stock was halted early Friday, after the shares plunged again in premarket trading. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said SVB was one of a few banks she was “monitoring very carefully.” Reaction poured in from several analysts who discussed the bank’s liquidity risk.

California regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank and handed the wreckage over to the Federal Deposit Insurance Administration later on Friday.

Below is the same list of 10 banks we highlighted on Thursday that showed similar red flags to those shown by SVB Financial through the fourth quarter. This time, we will show how much they reported in unrealized losses on securities — an item that played an important role in SVB’s crisis.

Below that is a screen of U.S. banks with at least $10 billion in total assets, showing those that appeared to have the greatest exposure to unrealized securities losses, as a percentage of total capital, as of Dec. 31.

First, a quick look at SVB

Some media reports have referred to SVB of Santa Clara, Calif., as a small bank, but it had $212 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31, making it the 17th largest bank in the Russell 3000 Index RUA as of Dec. 31. That makes it the largest U.S. bank failure since Washington Mutual in 2008.

One unique aspect of SVB was its decades-long focus on the venture capital industry. The bank’s loan growth had been slowing as interest rates rose. Meanwhile, when announcing its $21 billion dollars in securities sales on Thursday, SVB said it had taken the action not only to lower its interest-rate risk, but because “client cash burn has remained elevated and increased further in February, resulting in lower deposits than forecasted.”

SVB estimated it would book a $1.8 billion loss on the securities sale and said it would raise $2.25 billion in capital through two offerings of new shares and a convertible bond offering. That offering wasn’t completed.

So this appears to be an example of what can go wrong with a bank focused on a particular industry. The combination of a balance sheet heavy with securities and relatively light on loans, in a rising-rate environment in which bond prices have declined and in which depositors specific to that industry are themselves suffering from a decline in cash, led to a liquidity problem.

Unrealized losses on securities

Banks leverage their capital by gathering deposits or borrowing money either to lend the money out or purchase securities. They earn the spread between their average yield on loans and investments and their average cost for funds.

The securities investments are held in two buckets:

Available for sale — these securities (mostly bonds) can be sold at any time, and under accounting rules are required to be marked to market each quarter. This means gains or losses are recorded for the AFS portfolio continually. The accumulated gains are added to, or losses subtracted from, total equity capital.

Held to maturity — these are bonds a bank intends to hold until they are repaid at face value. They are carried at cost and not marked to market each quarter.

In its regulatory Consolidated Financial Statements for Holding Companies—FR Y-9C, filed with the Federal Reserve, SVB Financial, reported a negative $1.911 billion in accumulated other comprehensive income as of Dec. 31. That is line 26.b on Schedule HC of the report, for those keeping score at home. You can look up regulatory reports for any U.S. bank holding company, savings and loan holding company or subsidiary institution at the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council’s National Information Center. Be sure to get the name of the company or institution right — or you may be looking at the wrong entity.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/20-banks-that-are-sitting-on-huge-potential-securities-lossesas-was-svb-c4bbcafa

Billionaire Investor Says Financial Meltdown Coming Monday Unless Biden Bails Out Silicon Valley Bank

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is forecasting an “economic meltdown” within hours of the banks opening up on Monday morning following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Ackman is urging Joe Biden to step in and protect all of the bank’s depositors, warning that inaction could lead to a ripple effect across other smaller banks within the industry.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States, collapsed this week. This marks the worst financial institution failure since the Great Recession in 2008. With $209 billion in total assets at the end of 2022, the bank failed after a 60 percent drop in shares due to declining customer deposits, forcing SVB to sell off $1.75 billion in shares.

Ackman’s warning came hours after Greg Becker, the CEO of SVB Financial Group, sent a video message to employees of the bank acknowledging the “incredibly difficult” 48 hours leading up to its collapse on Friday. Becker said he is working with banking regulators to find a partner for the bank, but there is “no guarantee” a deal will be struck.

Ackman predicts bank runs will happen unless the Biden administration bails the bank out:

From a source I trust: @SVB_Financial depositors will get ~50% on Mon/Tues and the balance based on realized value over the next 3-6 months. If this proves true, I expect there will be bank runs beginning Monday am at a large number of non-SIB banks. No company will take even a… https://t.co/2BoqtCDKJt

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) March 11, 2023

“From a source I trust, SVB depositors will get ~50% on Mon/Tues and the balance based on realized value over the next 3-6 months. If this proves true, I expect there will be bank runs beginning Monday am at a large number of non-SIB banks. No company will take even a tiny chance of losing a dollar of deposits as there is no reward for this risk. Absent a systemwide FDIC, deposit guarantee, more bank runs begin Monday am,” he tweeted.

https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/breaking-billionaire-investor-says-financial-meltdown-coming-monday-unless-biden-bails-out-silicon-valley-bank/?utm_source=jdunlap

Three Mexicans charged, 1 million fentanyl pills seized outside LA

At a minimum, the carload seized was enough to kill 600,000 people.

If every single pill contained a lethal dose, the amount hidden inside of the body and trunk of a Volkswagen Jetta was enough to kill one million people.

According to a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency analysis, 60% of pills it tests contain a lethal dose. A lethal dose is 2 milligrams, the weight of a mosquito.

At a minimum, the carload seized was enough to kill 600,000 people.

Three Mexican nationals – all single men ages 25, 28, and 29, were in possession of the fentanyl pills. They were arrested and charged in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced.

All three are from Sinaloa, Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the region after which one of the most dangerous cartels is named.

The Sinaloa Cartel controls the drug trade throughout the southern border, covering California, Arizona, New Mexico, and into El Paso, Texas. Other cartels vie for control in Texas, including CJNG, Zeta, and Gulf cartels, law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square.

The Mexican nationals were apprehended in El Monte, California, roughly 150 miles north of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. While some Democratic politicians have claimed the majority of fentanyl is being seized at ports of entry, law enforcement officers are seizing in single car loads enough fentanyl precursors and/or pills to kill entire populations of towns.

In one recent bust in Arizona, also 150 miles north of the border, enough fentanyl was seized to kill 800,000 people. Cartel and gang operatives traffic people and drugs from Mexico through the southern border to major U.S. cities, where they arrange distribution throughout the U.S., law enforcement officials have explained. Southern California is a major distribution hub, whose criminal network has reached Florida prisons, according to a recent operation.

The Sinaloa cartel’s reach extends to all major U.S. cities and throughout the world, law enforcement officials have also told The Center Square.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, the three Mexican nationals met with two buyers at a restaurant in El Segundo, California, about an hour from El Monte, on Tuesday. They initially engaged in a 10,000-fentanyl-pill sample sale followed by a planned 1-million-fentanyl-pill sale.

During the meeting, two of the defendants, Florencio Camacho Allan, 28, and Gerardo Gaixola-Patino, 29, met with the buyers while a third defendant, Alex Valdez Oroz, 25, remained in the car, a white Volkswagen Jetta, according to the affidavit.

After the meeting, Allan and Gaixola-Patino went to the parking lot where they allegedly sold 10,000 fentanyl pills to the buyers for $7,500, according to law enforcement. They then left the restaurant under surveillance of law enforcement.

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/three-mexicans-charged-1-million-fentanyl-pills-seized-outside-la

Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Bill to Stop Teaching CRT in the Military

The Combating Racist Training in the Military Act would prohibit DOD from teaching racist CRT ideology in the military, including at the Service Academies.

As we have reported, critical race theory and associated racist ideologies have “Established a Beachhead at the Military Service Academies.”

Additionally, we reported that DOD recently held a “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit” despite various challenges presently confronting the military, such as a spike in recent fentanyl overdose deaths. And, as we reported here, President Biden’s new “equity” Executive Order requires DOD to create an “Agency Equity Team.” Part of this team’s mission will be to “support continued equity training and equity leadership development for staff across all levels of the agency’s workforce.”

But now, in a press release, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) announces that he has introduced a bill—with Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Steve Daines (R-Montana), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) co-sponsoring—called the “Combating Racist Training in the Military Act,” which would prohibit DOD from teaching racist CRT ideology “in any Department of Defense institution, including service academies.” Congressman Dan Bishop (R-North Carolina-08) has introduced companion legislation in the House.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/03/sen-tom-cotton-introduces-bill-to-stop-teaching-crt-in-the-military/

Democrat Proposed Bill in Illinois Creates Criminal Offense of ‘Parental Bullying’ for Routine Discipline of Children

Illinois State Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) is proposing a bill to criminalize parents who “knowingly, with intent to discipline or alter the behavior of a child, says or messages anything that would coerce the child.” The bill, which is currently pending, would criminalize the behavior as “parental bullying.”

Bill HB0029 states:

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Creates the offense of parental bullying. Provides that a parent or legal guardian of a minor commits parental bullying when he or she knowingly and with the intent to discipline, embarrass, or alter the behavior of the minor, transmits any verbal or visual message that the parent or legal guardian reasonably believes would coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to the minor. Provides that parental bullying is a petty offense. Provides that if a person is convicted of parental bullying, the court shall order that person to pay for the costs of prosecution and that a portion of any fine imposed, as determined by the court, be placed in escrow for the purchase of a certificate of deposit for use by the victim when he or she attains 18 years of age.

Ford introduced the bill in December, but there are currently no other sponsors.

Think of all that would criminalize: Yelling at your child to stop throwing food at the table. Chewing out your kid for not doing homework. Giving your child a mean look for using foul language. The list is endless.

To top it off, the website of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), says he “is a firm believer in the power of responsible parenting and established the Council on Responsible Fatherhood, which aims to support fathers and help them to become more responsible and present.”

Labeling disciplined parenting as “bullying” may be precisely the last thing Chicago needs. Only 11% of Black kids in Chicago public schools read at grade level. Just 6% can do math at grade level. That’s a parental failure, not just school failure. And crime? Can any sane person deny that Chicago’s crime epidemic stems in part from parents who don’t discipline?

In 2021, Ford resigned from the board of trustees at Loretto Hospital over how it handled vaccine distribution to people not yet eligible for the vaccine.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/democrat-proposed-bill-creates-criminal-offense-of-parental-bullying-for-routine-discipline-of-children/

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/democrat-proposed-bill-creates-criminal-offense-of-parental-bullying-for-routine-discipline-of-children/

‘Obviously Made In Jest’: Jane Fonda Scrambles To Walk Back Suggestion That She’d ‘Murder’ Pro-Lifers

Actress and activist Jane Fonda scrambled to walk back comments she made on Friday’s broadcast of “The View” — when she suggested “murder” as the appropriate response to legislation restricting access to abortion on demand.

As her words quickly sparked backlash, Fonda claimed — in a statement released later that same day — that the comments she’d made on the ABC midday talk show had been “in jest.” She then pivoted to accuse her critics of focusing more on jokes than on “the actual problem at hand.”

“While women’s reproductive rights are a very serious issue and extremely important to me, my comment on The View was obviously made in jest. My body language and tone made it clear to those in the room — and to anyone watching — that I was using hyperbole to make a point,” Fonda said in a public statement.

“Women across the country are facing real threats when it comes to our bodies, and people lose faith in our mission to protect women when others choose to focus on tangential issues and passing jokes instead of the actual problem at hand,” she added.

Friday’s conversation began with Fonda’s claim that, after decades of women in America having access to abortion on demand, she didn’t care what laws were passed or what rulings were overturned: “We’re not going back, I don’t care what the laws are. We’re not going back.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin, who has often claimed to be pro-life herself, dismissed Fonda’s comment as proof that she was an activist at heart. “That’s the activist speaking, and she probably will get a Nobel Prize.”

“The View” host Joy Behar pressed Fonda on that point, asking what she thought could be done in addition to simply staging protests on the issue.

“Well, I’ve thought of murder,” Fonda replied.

But despite Fonda’s later claim that it was “clear to those in the room” that her suggestion had not been serious, Behar immediately stepped in to inform the audience that it was a joke — a move which prompted a glare from Fonda and laughter from everyone else at the table.

But her critics were not so sure that it was a joke.

http://www.domigood.com/2023/03/obviously-made-in-jest-jane-fonda.html

Virginia Judge Rules Embryos Are Property, ‘Chattel’ Using Slavery Law

A Virginia judge ruled last month that frozen embryos can be considered property, a decision based in-part on a 19th century slavery law, according to a new report.

The ruling was part of a dispute between a divorced couple who both hope to gain control over two frozen embryos, which were created by Honeyhline Heidemann and Jason Heidemann during their marriage, the Associated Press reported this week.

“Upon independent research, this court was unable to find any Virginia law prohibiting the purchase or sale of human embryo, nor has either party cited a federal law prohibiting the activity,” Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner wrote in a ruling related to the battle over the embryos. “As there is no prohibition on the sale of human embryos, they may [be] valued and sold, and thus may be considered ‘goods or chattels’ within the meaning of Code § 8.01-93.”

Since the couple split, Honeyhline has hoped to move forward with using the embryos, but Jason has sought to block her saying that implanting the embryos “would force Mr. Heidemann to procreate against his wishes and therefore violate his constitutional right to procreational autonomy.”

According to a 2015 contract that the couple had drawn up, they “own any stored embryos jointly.”

While Gardiner has not made a decision on Jason’s procreational autonomy claim, he did rule that the embryos could be viewed as property. His ruling in part relied on a Virginia law from the 1800s that regulated “goods and chattel,” which included slaves at the time the law was written.

“I would like to think that the bench and the bar would be seeking more modern precedent,” said Solomon Ashby, president of the Old Dominion Bar Association.

A human embryo is typically frozen very soon after fertilization before the unborn child has been able to develop much.

In recent months, some conservatives have considered or voiced support for increasing protection for embryos and prohibiting the disposal of embryos as pro-life organizations have often raised concerns about what happens to embryos that do not end up being implanted.

Gardiner’s ruling to treat embryos as property could draw the attention of pro-lifers, who have often compared slavery and abortion over their callous treatment of human life.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2023/03/virginia-judge-rules-embryos-are.html

http://www.stationgossip.com/2023/03/virginia-judge-rules-embryos-are.html

South African rapper Costa Titch dies on stage while performing at Ultra music festival

South African rapper Costa Titch, 28, died suddenly on stage while performing, police said on Sunday.

Key points:

Costa Titch collapsed while performing at Ultra Festival

Videos show him getting up and continuing to sing before dying

The death comes a month after the killing of fellow South African rapper AKA

The artist, whose real name is Costa Tsobanoglou, "collapsed while he was performing" on Saturday evening at the Ultra South Africa concert in the Johannesburg suburb of Nasrec, police told AFP.

They said a post-mortem would establish the cause of death.

Costa Titch scored a major hit with Big Flexa, which has more than 45 million YouTube views, showcasing the amapiano local subgenre of house music blending house, jazz and lounge music.

Videos on social media of his concert show him performing with his microphone in hand when he appears to fall.

He continues singing but collapses again, prompting other artists to come to his aid.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-13/rapper-costa-titch-dies-at-ultra-festival-south-africa/102086952

Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker To Senator Blackburn: Biden’s DOJ ‘A Two-Tiered System Of Justice’

Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker explained to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week how President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice is a “two-tiered system of justice” in which conservatives often get the short end of the stick.

Whitaker made the remarks during an appearance on Blackburn’s podcast “Unmuted” while the two discussed Attorney General Merrick Garland’s recent congressional hearing.

“Why hasn’t the Attorney General moved forward with these prosecutions of people that have committed domestic terrorism, have committed these fire bombings, are breaking federal law protesting outside of Justice’s homes?” Blackburn asked.

“It boils down to one priorities and second just prosecutorial will,” Whitaker said. “If they want to, they can prosecute anyone and everyone for crimes. But in these cases, you know, crisis pregnancy centers and the justice’s houses, you know, clear violations of federal law, this Justice department is just ignoring it. They’re not doing the will of the people. And, you know, to your point at the beginning, I think this is a two-tiered system of justice.”

“And one of the things I saw Attorney General Garland really not seem to comprehend is that what is happening, which is the, the people on the right, conservatives, Republicans seem to be singled out, uh, for extra prosecutorial attention,” he added. “And while folks on the left, uh, you know, get away with clear violations of federal law and there doesn’t seem to be any desire to bring them in and hold them accountable to the rule of law.”

http://www.domigood.com/2023/03/former-acting-attorney-general-matt.html