I have a question for all you tycoons and young Republicans out there.

Suppose I write a check on my bank account to pay my utility bill and mail it off. The utility company cashes my check in and it bounces, because the bank has crashed (like Silicon Valley Bank did this weekend). Who is responsible for that bad check? It can’t be me, I have plenty of money in my account. I have done no wrong, made no mistake, broken no law. It’s the bank that is in default, not its depositors.

Yeah, yeah, I know the FDIC will eventually make sure everything is squared away, but that might take months of paperwork, maybe even lawyers and lawsuits! And I better hope my financial records are up-to-date so I can prove I’m covered.

There are variations to this theme. Will I be responsible for all checks drawn on that account, or just the ones written AFTER the bank went under? What about deposits? My pension income is automatically deposited by wire transfer into my accounts. Does this mean the bank will continue taking my money while refusing to give it back when I ask for it? It takes time to make alternate arrangements for deposit-by-mail. Will my work pension and Social Security continue being wired into the black hole that is now my life savings? What happens if scammers, hackers and criminals figure out how to take advantage of the situation and start dipping into all those virtual simoleons? Who straightens THAT out?

The mind boggles…