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Comment by azinman2 | Hacker News Reader

You know that not only startups use SVB right? Farmers and wineries do as well. And either way this is the economic engine of America - in its accounts lays the next trillions of dollars of GDP. It is unbelievably stupid to not find a way to make them whole for a black swan event.

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This isn't a black swan event, it was run of the mill mismanagement.

From the perspective of the bank this isn’t a black swan event, from the perspective of a smaller farmer or winery it is certainly a black swan event.

> from the perspective of a smaller farmer or winery it is certainly a black swan event

Q: How much cash do small farmers / wineries have on deposit at their bank?

Let's say a small farm or winery employees 20 employees and pays them an average of $50k a year. Holding three months of payroll alone will be over the FDIC limit, let alone other money they'll need to buffer all of their other expenses.

> Let's say a small farm or winery employees 20 employees and pays them an average of $50k a year

"Show your working" ... https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452099.htm

> Holding three months of payroll [..]

Three months of payroll ... in cash?

I have two good friends who own and run wineries in France. Both of them are relatively successful, but neither of them have anywhere near 20 employees, for the simple reason that they can't afford to. The majority of the work is done by family members.

https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/fai...

Average is above one bank a year.

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