The Faustian bargain between the GOP and its voters is: we'll help our rich supporters get richer via regressive tax policies, deregulation, and hypocritical veneration of the free market, and we'll feed red meat to our poor voters by fighting the culture war on every front.
For as allegedly "smart" as DeSantis is, I don't think he understands his role, and doesn't seem to realize he's not supposed to interfere with the money making machinery. I'm cautiously optimistic he's going to blow himself up when he hits the national stage, and I'm not known for my optimism. Fingers crossed.
H.L. Mencken was quoted as saying “A democracy is where the middle class knows what it wants and gets it, good and hard”.
The joke is on Florida in so many ways but it is deserved nonetheless. A few years back the legislature passed regulations that limited how much insurance companies could charge in premiums. The result was that major insurers quit the state and those that are left are increasing premiums over 50% year over year. Now one can say, the insurers deserve it but the reality is changing weather patterns are increasing the frequency and severity of storms and thus claims. Anyway chasing banks out only increases costs for the Florida residents, Texas is finding that out as well. The voters are too stupid to recognize when their pockets are being picked so I say “let ‘em have it”. Its what I call the hidden income tax of a tax free state.
It’s not hard to see a situation where the public entities in Florida find themselves unbanked. In the state where I live, there are more than a few banks who do not handle public funds because of the regulatory requirements. Have Florida legislators thought through what happens if the big banks simply decide that the regulatory hurdles are not worth the deposits they gain and small community banks are driven out of business by excessive compliance costs?
Perhaps the crazy destruction is part of the point. These authoritarian types may as well be working directly for Putin. Their job is to cause chaos, to damage and disrupt this country. DeSantis is auditioning for chief chaos agent, and having a great time finding out how far his power to destroy in Florida can be pushed.
I sincerely believe this and he is not the only operative. Even so lowly a troll as the despicable, execrable "Frank Lee" plays a small, but crucial role in causing this damage and disruption.
Merely speading misinformation in an effort to stifle confidence in the accuracy of news and other information that's disseminated works wonders towards achieving those evil ends.
Chaos is camoflauge and BIG money can be made under it's cover by those willing to take HUGE risks with other people's fortunes and livelihoods, much less their lives. 2008 comes to mind. Makes me wonder if the failure of SVB was really a take-down exercise.
Thank you Judd and Jason. To be fullly informed is to be fully armed!
Yes, that’s the hypocritical inconsistency here. On the one hand, the Republican battlecry has been “Deregulate! Make it easier for business!” They claim this will benefit the small business owner as well as the rich. Yet this action is intended to increase government control over Florida banks and will likely end up *increasing* the level of governmental intrusion and bureaucracy. Very sad that no one on the Republican side seems to recognize this and that there is no forceful pushback, either from independent/Democratic sources or from the news media.
Don't think they don't recognize this discrepancy. They do. However, none of them will acknowledge it and seem to pretend that said discrepancy doesn't exist.
Now for reasons why "there is no forceful pushback, either from independent/Democratic sources or from the news media?"
Same as the opposition. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I’m a shareholder of a small community bank that lends to the fishing industry along Florida’s Forgotten Coast - Apalachicola to Pensacola. My customers would revolt if the bank lent to oil interests - think Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Under this legislation, the bank could be sued for fraud under this hypothetical.
Part of me thinks we give DeSantis too much credit for strategy. It seems like he’s following a playbook written by someone else to test how far he can get with anti-woke laws, and this is the banking chapter that conveniently coincides with SVB. Anyway ... I was glad to read that a Florida court upheld the stay on at least some of the extremes imposed on public colleges and universities. We need so much more coverage of the people pushing back.
What a surprise: whether we're talking customers or pregnancies, DeSantis and crew don't want any entity except themselves to have the right to choose.
I'd caution anyone from thinking too hard about the downstream effects from stuff like this on the banking industry, finance's contributions to Republicans, etc. It's performative. It very well might never be enforced, but it sends a message that big business is the enemy *as long as they aren't serving Republican interests.* Meanwhile the biggest and most important banks know they're already too big to fail and too big to regulate. This is about the base, and everyone will forget it in a few months as they move on from "woke banks" to "woke jails" or "woke PMCs" or something more nonsensical
The republicans say they are for deregulation yet they would be regulating banks and businesses ever more tightly with this legislation. Voters, for the most part, are going to see what’s happening here and are not going to let this slide quietly. I would not live in Florida if someone like De Santis (Putin) was governor.
This is what I have been waiting for! Thank you for following the money. DeSantis and his mob ties family wife are destroying Florida and I have had enough!
I appreciate this reporting. This bill truly seems like overreach and reeks of hypocrisy. That said, I am trying to fully understand the wider issues as well. While I am vehemently opposed to private prisons, I am not informed enough to understand how Wells Fargo and others can legally refuse to do business with them.
Reputation risk would come to mind. As a banker and shareholder in a community bank, I personally don’t want to lend to a company that profits from imprisoning people. The private prisons have lobbied in the past to criminalize misdemeanors, thus creating opportunity for more custodial customers.
Right. I understand and agree that prison for profit is reprehensible on so many levels. I also see a slippery slope - maybe unwarranted due legally to protected classes - where a “conservative” bank could also refuse to do business with those they deem too “woke.” I may be conflating issues here - I have some additional research to do!
Republicons' blatant push for state control over private businesses is really quite amazing. I am still trying to understand it. The rationale pushed here makes a lot of sense.
Related-and-also-Important - @Jason: would love to see more (and more transparently) the ways that the DeSantis-connected campaign is being funded - beyond just banking. A FL-HQ'd utility (NextEra) - now has business contracts providing electricity to New-England/ Rhode-Island-based customers (along with less-favorable operating conditions) ... AND generating millions for GOP campaigns.
Thanks for the link. I’m always interested to know who donates to the desantis campaign and Florida Republican Party.
Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, along w state legislators, have also benefited from Geo donations btw. The Tampa Bay Times has several stories, one about the $3 million no-bid contract awarded to Geo.
What the hey is a "business sector?" Would a bank be knocked off the approved list for refusing a loan to an "escort service.?" How about refusing to lend to a business dedicated to pro-choice advocacy? or to Disney or other businesses already on the Florida hit list? And are there going to be penalties for banks who turn down an objectively bad risk that happens to be in an also 'preferred" sector?
Who decides the reason the bank turns down lending to someone? How does the Florida government decide between someone being turned down for its "support of state government combatting illegal immigration" from being turned down for being bad PR for the bank? What happens when the customer is trying to combat LEGAL immigration?
Talk about "small government." Though of course, deSantos is far from the GOP idea of "small government" and "deregulation."
As far as ESG goes: were I in my 30s or 40s, I certainly wouldn't want my 401k to invest in an REIT that could only consider the value of waterfront property in Florida as it is now, rather than what that property might be worth by the time I retired.
Wells Fargo doesn't have to leave the state. It just has to stop making business loans there. Still take deposits and mortgages, but if you want a business loan, deal with Wells Fargo out of state. That's what folks needing an abortion need to do. Why not folks who want bank loans? (Tongue in cheek here; I know that's not practical.).
This is all just virtue signaling. That's all deSantos cares about.
The Faustian bargain between the GOP and its voters is: we'll help our rich supporters get richer via regressive tax policies, deregulation, and hypocritical veneration of the free market, and we'll feed red meat to our poor voters by fighting the culture war on every front.
For as allegedly "smart" as DeSantis is, I don't think he understands his role, and doesn't seem to realize he's not supposed to interfere with the money making machinery. I'm cautiously optimistic he's going to blow himself up when he hits the national stage, and I'm not known for my optimism. Fingers crossed.
Well said.
H.L. Mencken was quoted as saying “A democracy is where the middle class knows what it wants and gets it, good and hard”.
The joke is on Florida in so many ways but it is deserved nonetheless. A few years back the legislature passed regulations that limited how much insurance companies could charge in premiums. The result was that major insurers quit the state and those that are left are increasing premiums over 50% year over year. Now one can say, the insurers deserve it but the reality is changing weather patterns are increasing the frequency and severity of storms and thus claims. Anyway chasing banks out only increases costs for the Florida residents, Texas is finding that out as well. The voters are too stupid to recognize when their pockets are being picked so I say “let ‘em have it”. Its what I call the hidden income tax of a tax free state.
Thanks for the bonus newsletter.
It’s not hard to see a situation where the public entities in Florida find themselves unbanked. In the state where I live, there are more than a few banks who do not handle public funds because of the regulatory requirements. Have Florida legislators thought through what happens if the big banks simply decide that the regulatory hurdles are not worth the deposits they gain and small community banks are driven out of business by excessive compliance costs?
Perhaps the crazy destruction is part of the point. These authoritarian types may as well be working directly for Putin. Their job is to cause chaos, to damage and disrupt this country. DeSantis is auditioning for chief chaos agent, and having a great time finding out how far his power to destroy in Florida can be pushed.
I sincerely believe this and he is not the only operative. Even so lowly a troll as the despicable, execrable "Frank Lee" plays a small, but crucial role in causing this damage and disruption.
Merely speading misinformation in an effort to stifle confidence in the accuracy of news and other information that's disseminated works wonders towards achieving those evil ends.
Chaos is camoflauge and BIG money can be made under it's cover by those willing to take HUGE risks with other people's fortunes and livelihoods, much less their lives. 2008 comes to mind. Makes me wonder if the failure of SVB was really a take-down exercise.
Thank you Judd and Jason. To be fullly informed is to be fully armed!
Yes, that’s the hypocritical inconsistency here. On the one hand, the Republican battlecry has been “Deregulate! Make it easier for business!” They claim this will benefit the small business owner as well as the rich. Yet this action is intended to increase government control over Florida banks and will likely end up *increasing* the level of governmental intrusion and bureaucracy. Very sad that no one on the Republican side seems to recognize this and that there is no forceful pushback, either from independent/Democratic sources or from the news media.
Don't think they don't recognize this discrepancy. They do. However, none of them will acknowledge it and seem to pretend that said discrepancy doesn't exist.
Now for reasons why "there is no forceful pushback, either from independent/Democratic sources or from the news media?"
Same as the opposition. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I’m a shareholder of a small community bank that lends to the fishing industry along Florida’s Forgotten Coast - Apalachicola to Pensacola. My customers would revolt if the bank lent to oil interests - think Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Under this legislation, the bank could be sued for fraud under this hypothetical.
And they would do it too. Close you down good and hard. Make an example of those who want to be "woke."
I'd like to punch anyone who uses "woke" as a pejorative right in the mouth! They scream about "freedom" then want to limit everyone's but their own.
But they ARE limiting their own. They're just too blind, too stupid, to realize it.
Excellent point and what an indictment of the RW'z mind and dataset.
Part of me thinks we give DeSantis too much credit for strategy. It seems like he’s following a playbook written by someone else to test how far he can get with anti-woke laws, and this is the banking chapter that conveniently coincides with SVB. Anyway ... I was glad to read that a Florida court upheld the stay on at least some of the extremes imposed on public colleges and universities. We need so much more coverage of the people pushing back.
Agreed!
What a surprise: whether we're talking customers or pregnancies, DeSantis and crew don't want any entity except themselves to have the right to choose.
Thanks for the crackerjack reporting.
Thanks for this, Jason. If this bill passes I'm rooting for a big bank exodus from FL!
I'd caution anyone from thinking too hard about the downstream effects from stuff like this on the banking industry, finance's contributions to Republicans, etc. It's performative. It very well might never be enforced, but it sends a message that big business is the enemy *as long as they aren't serving Republican interests.* Meanwhile the biggest and most important banks know they're already too big to fail and too big to regulate. This is about the base, and everyone will forget it in a few months as they move on from "woke banks" to "woke jails" or "woke PMCs" or something more nonsensical
The republicans say they are for deregulation yet they would be regulating banks and businesses ever more tightly with this legislation. Voters, for the most part, are going to see what’s happening here and are not going to let this slide quietly. I would not live in Florida if someone like De Santis (Putin) was governor.
I'd be curious to see how much tourism is being affected by Blue staters being less enthusiastic about going to Red states.
I can say it definitely effected some potential vacation plans my wife and I considered.
Hard to imagine having a good time there.
I will not spend a single penny to support Florida or businesses operating in Florida. I look for and purchase produce grown anywhere but Florida.
This is what I have been waiting for! Thank you for following the money. DeSantis and his mob ties family wife are destroying Florida and I have had enough!
I appreciate this reporting. This bill truly seems like overreach and reeks of hypocrisy. That said, I am trying to fully understand the wider issues as well. While I am vehemently opposed to private prisons, I am not informed enough to understand how Wells Fargo and others can legally refuse to do business with them.
Reputation risk would come to mind. As a banker and shareholder in a community bank, I personally don’t want to lend to a company that profits from imprisoning people. The private prisons have lobbied in the past to criminalize misdemeanors, thus creating opportunity for more custodial customers.
Right. I understand and agree that prison for profit is reprehensible on so many levels. I also see a slippery slope - maybe unwarranted due legally to protected classes - where a “conservative” bank could also refuse to do business with those they deem too “woke.” I may be conflating issues here - I have some additional research to do!
First they came for the teachers, professors, and librarians.
Next they came for the GLBTQ folk.
Now they're coming for the bankers.
Every day, Gov. Destructo reveals more and more that he is an authoritarian fascist,
but he hates all the same people his followers hate, so they love him and ignore the growing danger.
By the time he comes for THEM, (and he will) it will be too late.
There will be no one left to stand up for them.
Republicons' blatant push for state control over private businesses is really quite amazing. I am still trying to understand it. The rationale pushed here makes a lot of sense.
Related-and-also-Important - @Jason: would love to see more (and more transparently) the ways that the DeSantis-connected campaign is being funded - beyond just banking. A FL-HQ'd utility (NextEra) - now has business contracts providing electricity to New-England/ Rhode-Island-based customers (along with less-favorable operating conditions) ... AND generating millions for GOP campaigns.
https://www.golocalprov.com/news/new-report-providences-new-electricity-co.-tied-to-millions-to-gop-to-block
Thanks for the link. I’m always interested to know who donates to the desantis campaign and Florida Republican Party.
Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, along w state legislators, have also benefited from Geo donations btw. The Tampa Bay Times has several stories, one about the $3 million no-bid contract awarded to Geo.
What the hey is a "business sector?" Would a bank be knocked off the approved list for refusing a loan to an "escort service.?" How about refusing to lend to a business dedicated to pro-choice advocacy? or to Disney or other businesses already on the Florida hit list? And are there going to be penalties for banks who turn down an objectively bad risk that happens to be in an also 'preferred" sector?
Who decides the reason the bank turns down lending to someone? How does the Florida government decide between someone being turned down for its "support of state government combatting illegal immigration" from being turned down for being bad PR for the bank? What happens when the customer is trying to combat LEGAL immigration?
Talk about "small government." Though of course, deSantos is far from the GOP idea of "small government" and "deregulation."
As far as ESG goes: were I in my 30s or 40s, I certainly wouldn't want my 401k to invest in an REIT that could only consider the value of waterfront property in Florida as it is now, rather than what that property might be worth by the time I retired.
Wells Fargo doesn't have to leave the state. It just has to stop making business loans there. Still take deposits and mortgages, but if you want a business loan, deal with Wells Fargo out of state. That's what folks needing an abortion need to do. Why not folks who want bank loans? (Tongue in cheek here; I know that's not practical.).
This is all just virtue signaling. That's all deSantos cares about.