I am no great fan of the Wall Street Journal, but what was seen this week in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank takes the gluten-free no added sugar cake. Apparently hopping onto the Ron DeSantis Touring Circus and Petting Zoo for the Woke Sensitive, Andy Kessler takes a backdoor approach to good ol’ fashioned other side of the tracks pondering.
In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler writes: “SVB notes that besides 91 percent of their board being independent and 45 percent 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.”
What in the world is a diversity demand? People who run human resources departments are in charge of employee makeup and ensuring compliance with the Department of Labor. Boards are voted on, last I checked. And boards vote on proposals, and generally thumbs up or thumbs down on the behind the scenes hard work of the people actually, you know, running the bank.
Now as it turns out, there is some evidence that someone other than a middle-aged white male can operate in the world of high-finance.
Vice sums it up clearly, here-
One does not have to do much to imagine how a board of 12 white men would have acted; 10 of SVB’s 11 directors are white, all of them are rich, and the youngest is 53 years old. SVB's board, it should be noted, is less diverse than any of the United State's top five banks, according to their own annual reports.
There is, of course, literally no evidence whatsoever to suggest that SVB was “distracted” by diversity demands, and less than zero evidence that any token corporate interest in diversity led to its downfall. There is ample evidence to say, however, that while the story is complicated, the most important factor appears to have been the Trump-era rollback of various regulations put in place after the last financial crisis to prevent banks from imploding.
I am trying to imagine what was going through Kessler’s mind. What scenario was he imagining? What conversations did he hear in his dreams?
“Hey Jim, I want to touch base about some concerns we have with our portfolio diversity.”
“Can’t talk now, Bob, we are distracted with counting women in our business credit card division. It appears we have 40 women, soon to be minus one, when we are required to have, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Andy Kessler, only 39.5.
Legal is struggling to find half of a woman to replace Lindsey when she moves onto Apple. We are not sure how that works.”
“Ya, but Jim, our deposits are 90 percent uninsured.”
“Can’t talk now Bob, I am a distracted middle-aged white male with a donut gut, so after my 4 minute workout where I pretend to walk on a treadmill, we can talk more about this liquidity thing you keep mentioning.”
Now, I just want to point out that the entire point here is to validate the ridiculous premise that even though, “They are not racist but,” they just have to opine on how much “easier” for most of corporate America the business of pillaging, I mean finance, would be if they did not have to concern themselves with pesky matters like equal opportunity.
The comedy stops here, because I want to make sure the point is taken for those less connected to this site:
While I won’t apply project this particular opinion onto Kessler personally, in general, the word woke is a stand-in for any type of misogynistic, prejudiced, or otherwise bigoted term the woke slinger would rather use.
The press hears what it wants to hear, and does contortions to validate and equivocate even the lowest of language. It is why we hear such words and phrases as “controversial,” or, hot button issue.”
Diversity is an anathema to those longing for the mythical ideal of the 1950’s.
Just like journalism is an anathema to people who can only gain power by burying the truth.
-ROC
Hey friends, I really need your support with Val’s surgery coming up, so please consider subscribing to my newsletter, The Claw News, for hard-hitting original reporting. When you join, you become part of The Claw Family and I promise you will be informed and entertained! Click here and sign up to The Claw News today!
Love,
-ROC