Senator Warner is one of the creepiest people in government.
It should surprise no one that his voice was among the loudest calling for repeal of the Systemically Important Financial Institution (SiFi) rules in Dodd-Frank.
On top being the front man for the banks he is a control freak of the totalitarian variety, ready to expand the purview of the State Security Apparatus at every opportunity
From The Intercept, April 3:
“When our financial system is under assault, that is a national security issue,” Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner told The Intercept.
The next time banks need a bailout, they’ll have a new argument for why it’s necessary: national security.
In recent months, the Pentagon has moved to provide loans, guarantees, and other financial instruments to technology companies it considers crucial to national security — a step beyond the grants and contracts it normally employs. So when Silicon Valley Bank threatened to fail in March following a bank run, the defense agency advocated for government intervention to insure the investments. The Pentagon had even scrambled to prepare multiple plans to get cash to affected companies if necessary, reporting by Defense One revealed.
Their interest in Silicon Valley Bank stems from the Pentagon’s brand-new office, the Office of Strategic Capital. According to the Wall Street Journal, the secretary of defense established the OSC in December specifically to counteract the investment power of adversaries like China in U.S. technologies, and to secure separate funding for companies whose products are considered vital to national security. It enjoys special authority to use loans and guarantees not normally available to the Defense Department to attract private investment in technology.
The full extent of OSC’s authorities has not yet been determined, as its charter is still being drafted, an OSC official not authorized to speak publicly told The Intercept. OSC’s website identifies its mission as twofold: first, identifying critical technology areas, and second, funding those investments using investment tools. “These financial tools are new to the Department and will be complementary to ongoing technology innovation efforts,” the agency’s mission states.
OSC is so new that it does not yet have its own budget, but President Joe Biden recently requested $115 million in funding.
According to Defense One, the Pentagon worried about supply chain disruption and startups needing to stop work. But although SVB’s clients included tech startups, The Intercept was not able to identify specific Pentagon contractors whose viability might have been at risk. Major defense contractors like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing gave no public indication that they had any cash in SVB.
Instead, it appears the Defense Department wanted to ensure that the entire venture capital system did not suffer a blow. It was an “opportunity to really get serious about growing that connective tissue between the national security enterprise and the commercial capital markets … and show that we’re good and sophisticated partners,” said Michael Madsen, acting director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, at a Reagan Institute event, as noted by Defense One.
SVB provided “a mechanism where you don’t need to go find investors, you can work with an institution like Silicon Valley Bank to finance that transition from prototyping to production,” Joe Laurienti, the founder of a rocket engine company who spoke at the Reagan Institute event, also said. “I think this is a huge opportunity for DoD and the federal government to find new forms, new mechanisms for financing that bridge.”
“I know of no precedent for DoD to invest in the financial system itself or to bail out financial institutions in any way,” Gordon Adams, a former associate director for national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget and professor emeritus at American University, told The Intercept.
The national security argument for bailout, notably, found an influential friend in the Senate. As the Biden administration intervened to protect Silicon Valley Bank depositors on March 12, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee and also sits on the Banking Committee, issued a press release warning that the bank run posed a national security risk.
“After an unprecedented and reckless run on Silicon Valley Bank, there were very real risks of instability spreading to other institutions and undermining our national security and technology innovation system,” the statement said. Warner — the only member of Congress to have publicly tied SVB to national security — has received significant contributions from the financial sector, including maxed out donations from SVB’s super PAC....
....MUCH MORE
As the military uses "supply chains" as their excuse to move into finance they have failed in their first responsibility: keeping the magazines and armories full of ammunition.
As things stand right now, in a major war the U.S. would run out of artillery shells within two weeks. Some analysts are saying one week.
And regarding the mission creep that all bureaucrats and politicians strive for, expanding their kingdoms at the expense of the taxpayer and citizen and their actual responsibilities, we are left with the question posed by the philosopher:
When was the last time you B***ches won a war?
