Canadian-American investor Kevin O’Leary called out the “idiot bank managers” who led Silicon Valley Bank to its demise, further adding that the federal government’s response to the collapse unwisely “nationalized” the banking system.
O’Leary, well-known by his “Mr. Wonderful” nickname coined on “Shark Tank” by fellow investor Barbara Corcoran, told “Hannity” that he however doesn’t like playing politics, especially in terms of finance.
“When you’re in my situation, you don’t care that much about politics, you care about policy,” he said.
“And so you make your decisions every day – my job is to get up in the morning and put millions of dollars to work. I really care about policy and what I see here, regardless of where you stand in politics — it’s a pretty bad policy.”
SHARK TANK’S O’LEARY SLAMS BLUE-STATE REGULATION: MASSACHUSETTS IS AT WAR WITH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
While the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insures up to $250,000 per depositor per financial institution – leaving millions of bank deposits among the upper echelon depositor uninsured – O’Leary said the Biden administration’s response to SVB’s collapse seemed to negate that limit and make the American taxpayer the full and ultimate insurer.
“What we did, in my view, and it’s a personal opinion, over the weekend, was to nationalize the American banking system,” he said.
“We basically told everybody around the world, ‘Regardless of who you are and what bank you’re in, no matter how much you have, we guarantee it. We don’t care who you are or why it’s there. But no matter what happens, it’s guaranteed’.”
O’Leary warned a major unintended consequence of insuring nearly every bank deposit is that it will incentivize bank management to make even riskier investments in search of higher yields, because they will be compensated if they fail or make unwise decisions.
KEVIN O’LEARY SAYS SAM BANKMAN-FRIED FTX SCHEME WOULD HAVE NEVER GOT A DEAL ON SHARK TANK: ‘NOT A CHANCE’
“I’d like to keep this very…
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