Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus asked Americans to “wake up” to the reality that the U.S. economy is in “tough times,” following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
“I can’t wait for [President Joe] Biden to get on the speech again and talk about how great the economy is and how it’s moving forward and getting stronger by the day. And this is an indication that whatever he says is not true,” Marcus told Fox News on March 11.
Marcus added, “And maybe the American people will finally wake up and understand that we’re living in very tough times, that, in fact, that a recession may have already started. Who knows? But it doesn’t look good.”
Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th largest bank with about $209 billion in total assets, collapsed on March 10, after depositors rushed to withdraw money over concerns of the bank’s solvency. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has now assumed control of the bank.
The collapse of the California bank was the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history since Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis.
On Saturday, a White House statement said Biden has spoken to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the bank’s failure. Newsom also issued a statement saying he had been in touch with “the highest levels of leadership at the White House and Treasury.”
‘Woke’
Marcus attributed the bank’s failure to its decisions to adopt “woke” policies.
“I feel bad for all of these people that lost all their money in this woke bank. You know, it was more distressing to hear that the bank officials sold off their stock before this happened. It’s depressing to me,” Marcus said. “Who knows whether the Justice Department would go after them? They’re a woke company, so I guess not. And they’ll probably get away with it.”
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, sold 12,451 shares of the bank’s parent company SVB Financial Group on Feb. 27.
By Frank Fang
