The Conservative Take on Bank Failures: Too "Woke"
After the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank nine days ago everyone was looking for whom or what to pin the blame on. GOP culture warriors quickly aligned on a simple, stupid, common explanation: The bank was too "woke".
Politicians such as Florida Gov. and apparent presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley have gone on the talk show circuit blaming the bank's diversity efforts for its failure, as have countless right-wing pundits. And you thought I was joking when I quipped right after the failure that these sorts would snivel, "Isn't that just some community bank for liberal techies who care more about whether the lollipops in the lobby are cruelty free and LGBTQIA+ positive than what the interest rate is?"
One of the first examples of the too "woke" blame game came from WSJ columnist Andy Kessler a week ago. Link: Full column. He wrote:
“In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women, they also have ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+’ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”
Wow. There are so many things wrong in just two sentences. I'll limit my fault finding to Five Things for brevity:
1) If ever there were a time the disclaimer, "I'm not saying..." meant literally "I am saying..." this would be it. He is literally saying that diversity is the problem.
2) Unpacking his syllogism, is he saying that the BOD members who were ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+’ and ‘2 Veterans’ were unable to spot a not-too-hard-to-understand risk that "12 white men" would have spotted? And really, dumping on veterans as less smart than "white men"?
3) ...Or, continuing to unpack the syllogism, is he saying that the bank expended so much effort on its diversity program that it neglected to manage its financial risk?
4) Pretty much all banks strive for diversity. They all tout diversity programs on their websites. Go check any of the big ones: Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, US Bancorp, etc. None of them are failing.
5) Meanwhile, study after study has shown that diversity promotes business success rather than hinders it. A 2020 report by consultancy McKinsey found that "[T]he relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time."
Politicians such as Florida Gov. and apparent presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley have gone on the talk show circuit blaming the bank's diversity efforts for its failure, as have countless right-wing pundits. And you thought I was joking when I quipped right after the failure that these sorts would snivel, "Isn't that just some community bank for liberal techies who care more about whether the lollipops in the lobby are cruelty free and LGBTQIA+ positive than what the interest rate is?"
One of the first examples of the too "woke" blame game came from WSJ columnist Andy Kessler a week ago. Link: Full column. He wrote:
“In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women, they also have ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+’ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”
Wow. There are so many things wrong in just two sentences. I'll limit my fault finding to Five Things for brevity:
1) If ever there were a time the disclaimer, "I'm not saying..." meant literally "I am saying..." this would be it. He is literally saying that diversity is the problem.
2) Unpacking his syllogism, is he saying that the BOD members who were ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+’ and ‘2 Veterans’ were unable to spot a not-too-hard-to-understand risk that "12 white men" would have spotted? And really, dumping on veterans as less smart than "white men"?
3) ...Or, continuing to unpack the syllogism, is he saying that the bank expended so much effort on its diversity program that it neglected to manage its financial risk?
4) Pretty much all banks strive for diversity. They all tout diversity programs on their websites. Go check any of the big ones: Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, US Bancorp, etc. None of them are failing.
5) Meanwhile, study after study has shown that diversity promotes business success rather than hinders it. A 2020 report by consultancy McKinsey found that "[T]he relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time."