Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a clip from an episode of the iconic American animated television series, The Simpsons, has gone viral on Twitter. The clip, taken from the episode titled "The PTA Disbands," which originally aired on the Fox network on April 16, 1995, has been resonating with viewers as they draw comparisons between the episode's storyline and the recent events at Silicon Valley Bank.
The episode follows the Springfield Elementary School PTA as it disbands due to budget cuts, leaving the school without the necessary funds to function properly. Later in the episode, one of the characters of the show can be seen going inside a bank and creating panic around customers by saying things like, "the bank is out of money", "insolvent", and "they don't even have cash for the next 3 customers".
A user on Reddit changed the name of the bank in the video from First Bank of Springfield to Silicon Valley Bank which made the video clip even more popular on social media. Twitter users have been sharing the clip of the chaotic scenes at the bank and drawing parallels with the Silicon Valley Bank's collapse.
Here are some Twitter comments on the clip
"I remember this episode as a child lol, I didn’t understand it at the time but it was funny, now it’s hilarious cause it’s truly our banking system at its best and the mindset of the people"
"They know they always know
"Props for getting the security footage!"
"We need to do bank runs every week, way more fun than just sitting around waiting for the inevitable collapse, it’s good to be proactive."
The Silicon Valley Bank, headquartered in Santa Clara, held assets of around $209 billion and was ranked as the 16th largest bank in the United States as of the end of the previous year.
The Fed's forceful increase in interest rates over the past year had a noticeable impact on the start-up industry, in which it played a significant role, by limiting financial conditions. This issue appeared to be a primary concern for the collapse. While attempting to gather funds to compensate for the loss of departing deposits, the bank suffered a $1.8 billion loss on Treasury bonds that were devalued due to the Fed's rate hikes and spiralled into collapse.
Also read: FDIC takes control of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank, retains employees for 45 days at 1.5x salary