It's incredible how many members of the incredibly wealthy and supposedly self-reliant entrepreneurial set have spent the last 24 hours begging for government bailouts for their friends.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-03-10-2023/card/svb-tapped-home-loan-bank-for-15-billion-in-funding-at-end-of-2022-o8l8AvXWyMBFgUicgTwp

bill ackman, david sacks, mark cuban

i get the logic: It's like a less urgent version of 2008 when Wall Street made the argument the whole economy was in danger of collapse. There almost certainly will be fallout here, but the fallout of a bailout is a continued lack of consequences and reform in these industries.

Bad practices in both the startup and banking sectors have also already caused fallout for the broader society. It's not tenable for the tech world and finance to be the only people who live without consequence.

The same industries that push for deregulation then want bailouts when they make mistakes. Meanwhile, The same industries that push for deregulation then want bailouts when they make mistakes oppose bailing out medical debt and student loan debt, and oppose social welfare spending.

 “Privatize the gains and socialize the losses” is a hell of a business model when you think about it.

Friendly accounting rules! Deregulation! Bailouts! Tax loopholes! Rules for thee and not for me!