Silicon Valley Bank and the sordid history of 'Palo Alto'

It's Been a Minute

NPR

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🗓️ 17 March 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

Even after Silicon Valley Bank crumbled and tech workers have been laid off in the thousands, Silicon Valley is still surrounded by a mythos of progress and futurity. Host Brittany Luse talks to author Malcolm Harris about his new book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, to break down how that mythos was built, the dark underbelly underneath it, and why the tech industry is a microcosm of American capitalism.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.
0:06.2	I'm Brittany Loose.
0:07.8	Last Friday, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed.
0:11.7	It was THE bank for much of the tech industry, and for a few days, it seemed like its dissolution
0:17.8	could create a domino effect across US banks.
0:21.6	But one week later, the dust has settled.
0:24.3	The government has taken over SVB, and it looks like the venture capitalists are going
0:29.2	to get their money back.
0:30.6	How do you preserve your place in an unequal economy?
0:33.5	Well, one way is you cock a gun and you put it to everyone's head, and you say, if anything
0:38.0	happens to me, this whole ship goes down.
0:42.0	That's Malcolm Harris.
0:43.0	He's the author of a new book titled, Palo Alto, a history of California, capitalism, and
0:49.2	the world.
0:50.2	They said, if I don't get 100% of my uninsured money back, if you don't guarantee it on Monday,
0:55.5	this whole system is going to fall, because I'm so important that I will drag it down.
1:00.1	And it worked.
1:01.3	Online, I've seen a lot of people look at this quasi-bayout and wonder if they'll ever
1:06.8	see a bailout for the average American.
1:09.4	More than a few people have pointed at their little pile of student loan debt.
1:14.4	Essentially, it doesn't feel fair.
1:17.6	And while Harris says this is par for the course with Silicon Valley.
	...

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