On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: How safe is your money after recent bank collapses?
USA TODAY Personal Finance and Markets Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald looks at how safe your money is after a turbulent week for banks. Plus, Manhattan prosecutors meet with Stormy Daniels, allies of former President Donald Trump file an ethics complaint against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Progressive Democrats renew a push to make the four-day workweek federal law, and the results are in for the most popular dog breed of 2022.
Podcasts:True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.
Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 16th of March 2023. Today, how safe is your money after a wobbly week for American banks? Plus, Stormy Daniels meets with prosecutors, and there’s a new push for the four-day work week.
♦
After a stressful few days for banks, some might be wondering if their money is safe. I spoke with USA TODAY Personal Finance and Markets Reporter Elizabeth Buchwald to get a better sense. Elizabeth, welcome back to the show.
Elisabeth Buchwald:
Thanks for having me back.
Taylor Wilson:
Can you just refresh our listeners first off on what caused the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapses?
Elisabeth Buchwald:
Yeah. It has been a crazy couple days, I could say, reporting on all of this, but it is worthwhile to review how this all got started. Silicon Valley Bank experienced what’s called a bank run, and that happens when a lot of people want their money out of the bank at once. And because banks lend out some of the depositors’ money at any given point, they don’t have all that money on hand. What Silicon Valley Bank did with a lot of depositors money was invest in US treasuries. It’s been a difficult year for those as the Fed has raised interest rates. Investments made in treasuries have lost a lot of money, so the bank had to sell off those investments at a big loss. Eventually, it came to light that they had to take an over 1 billion after-tax loss and people were just panicked that, “Okay, this probably means they don’t have my money on hand.”
Taylor Wilson:
How does all of this compare with the 2008 collapses?
Elisabeth Buchwald:
It’s certainly easy to make the comparison between the two because both people experienced a lot of panic and questioned the stability of the banking system, but I think it’s very different for a lot of reasons. First, there’s more regulations on the biggest banks, and the reason some of these smaller banks are being questioned right now is because certain regulations were rolled back and there’s an argument to be made that perhaps it helped them take on more risk. Signature Bank, they did things with crypto that got them into trouble. But, I think for the most part it’s different because the risks are contained and we’re not seeing that the bigger banks are really in trouble here. There’s kind of the idea that we’ve been here before, we know what we’re doing.
Taylor Wilson:
How worried should Americans be about their money at whatever bank they use, and are certain banks safer than others?
Elisabeth Buchwald:
I don’t think people have a reason to be worried about their money. That’s not to say that they aren’t because they definitely are. I’m seeing people searching everywhere. Is my money safe here? Is my bank going to collapse? If you deposit your money at an FDIC insured bank, that means that if you have up to $250,000 in an account, that’s backed in the event that your bank should fail. As we saw with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the FDIC and a couple other government organizations that partnered with them were willing to commit to ensuring even more than that. That might mean that in the event that another bank fails, they’ll get that same treatment.
Now, talking about if one bank is safer than another. Well, certainly Chase was safer than Silicon Valley Bank last week and same goes for Signature Bank, but it’s hard to make the direct comparison. So I would say it’s safer, the ones that are keeping more money in reserves. The biggest banks have to actually keep even more than those other ones, so you could make the argument that that makes them safer. Of course, in the event that they were in trouble, I don’t think the government would idly sit by and say, “Okay, you’re on your own.”
Taylor Wilson:
What advice do experts give then on how Americans can better protect their money? Is it all about keeping cash just under the mattress or are there some better solutions?
Elisabeth Buchwald:
Certainly, I think there are better solutions. Keeping it in a bank is the safest way. I mean, you want to just do your homework and not fall for, “Oh, they’re going to give me this reward,” or something like that. You want to look for that big FDIC stamp. If you have the time, most of the banks that people deposit their money at are actually publicly traded companies and you could sift through their financials. It’s a good exercise just to make sure for yourself, and you could see what they’re talking about on their earnings calls.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Some homework for our listeners. Elisabeth Buchwald, always a pleasure. Thanks so much.
Elisabeth Buchwald:
Thank you.
♦
Taylor Wilson:
Manhattan prosecutors met yesterday with adult film star, Stormy Daniels. The meeting came as part of the long-running investigation into a $130,000 payment former President Donald Trump made just before the 2016 election to silence her about a previous affair. It wasn’t clear whether the meeting happened in person, but it brings new drama to an investigation believed to be nearing its end. The meeting also came as former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who arranged for the payment, appeared before a grand jury for the second time yesterday. Trump has denied wrongdoing. Man federal investigators ended their own inquiry into the payments in 2019, but testimony from Cohen could help bring the first charges in history against a former president.
♦
Allies of former President Donald Trump have filed an ethics complaint against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson said the move was a political gambit. David, thanks for coming on the podcast.
David Jackson:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
David, who are the allies that we’re talking about here and what are they taking issue with when it comes to DeSantis?
David Jackson:
Well, it’s a political action committee called Make America Great Again and it’s affiliated with the Trump campaign, but technically it’s not part of it. But rest assured, pretty sure the president knows what the kind of things they’re up to. They’ve been very aggressive about making his case for him, and that includes attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Their latest gambit, and it’s more of a political one than a legal one, is to file an ethics complaint with the Florida Department of Ethics, claiming that DeSantis is violating state law by essentially running for president while he’s governor. They note that he’s been traveling all over the country, that he’s been giving speeches, that he’s talking to potential donors, and that he’s also been talking to potential primary voters. They say that amounts to a presidential campaign that’s being funded by Florida taxpayers. They’re trying to make it a legal complaint with the Florida Ethics Department, but I don’t think they’ll get very far. I think, like I say, I think it’s more of a political thing than a legal one.
Taylor Wilson:
And is the DeSantis camp responding to this complaint?
David Jackson:
They didn’t like it. Now, DeSantis himself hasn’t responded and he’s not likely to, because he’s really avoided talking about Trump during this period of time. But his communications director issued a statement saying that it was reprehensible and that the Trump campaign was using the ethics process as a political weapon.
Taylor Wilson:
Is the type of campaigning that DeSantis has been doing as governor typically allowed?
David Jackson:
Oh, yes. Yeah. DeSantis is far from the first sitting governor to explore the idea of running for president and there’s really nothing illegal about it. For one thing, if it’s political travel, he’s supposed to be paid by other people. DeSantis has his own political action committee, and I’m sure they’re picking up the bills for a lot of his political travel. But secondly, he has and can always argue that when he goes out of state and talks to people, he’s talking about Florida so that he’s performing his duties as governor. This has been done plenty of times before. Back in 1992, Bill Clinton remained the governor of Arkansas when he ran for president. In 2000, George W. Bush remained the governor of Texas when he ran for president. There’s no legal issue here.
Taylor Wilson:
David, Trump himself obviously has been called out for flouting ethical norms, to say the least, of the presidential office. Do you think this ethics panel will see this as hypocritical, considering that?
David Jackson:
I would suspect so and I don’t know the makeup of the Florida Department of Ethics or what kind of political body that it is, but I find it hard to believe that anyone will take this seriously and not see it for what it is. It’s a political attack. There’ve also been candidates who’ve attacked governors for running while they were governors, saying they should be paying attention to the job they have. But like I said, that’s a political deal, not a legal one. I find it hard to believe that this complaint’s going anywhere.
Taylor Wilson:
And do you think the Trump camp will continue to use similar strategies with other candidates as well or just mostly DeSantis-focused thing?
David Jackson:
They’ll only do it with other candidates if those candidates really challenge him in the polls and get more popularity and become a threat to him politically. The reason he is going after DeSantis is because he’s the one that’s polling close to Trump and Trump needs to try to knock him out in order to help secure the nomination, but suffice to say no. I also want to point out that Trump has done this kind of thing plenty of times before. If you remember, even when he was president, he tried to get the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and that led to his impeachment. This is an old trick from Trump and his allies. Basically they want to get somebody to try to investigate their political opponent so that they can campaign on that, but I don’t think that’s going to work in this particular case.
Taylor Wilson:
USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson, thanks so much.
David Jackson:
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
Taylor Wilson:
Progressive Democrats are renewing a push to make the four-day work week federal law. Lead sponsor Congressman Mark Takano from California said the change will give Americans more time to “live, play, and enjoy life more fully outside of work.” His legislation would amend the definition of the work week in the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, shifting from 40 hours to 32. It would require overtime pay for any employee who works more than 32 hours in a week. The proposal would apply to non-exempt workers who are typically paid hourly, though would also apply to some salaried workers. Democratic representatives Pramila Jayapal and Jan Schakowsky co-sponsored the proposal. Takano introduced similar legislation in 2021, but it was not voted on in the House or Senate. It’s unlikely Takano’s bill would get enough support this Congress to pass both chambers with Republicans leading the House. But the four-day work week is picking up steam abroad. More than 70 British companies recently started a test four-day work week. Halfway through a six-month trial, most respondents reported there had been no loss in productivity.
♦
Well, the results are in and the most popular dog breed of 2022 was, drum roll please, the French Bulldog. The American Kennel Club made the announcement yesterday, ending the Labrador Retriever’s 31-year term as the country’s favorite dog breed. The organization said the French Bulldog has spiked in popularity in recent years. The dog was 14th back in 2012. Experts though warn that some bulldog breeds are known for being highly susceptible to health complications. According to a 2021 study, French Bulldogs may have a greater chance of being diagnosed with a number of disorders compared to other breeds. French bulldogs have also been the targets of theft. A breeder was shot and killed during a sale last month, and Lady Gaga’s dog walker was shot in 2021 as the star’s two dogs were stolen. As for the country’s least popular breeds, sorry to English Foxhounds. They came in last place. You can find the full rankings with a link in today’s show notes.
And you can find new episodes of 5 Things every morning right here, wherever you’re listening right now. I’m back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.