Matthew Zeitlin is on the show this week, taking us through the fallout from the SVB crash and explaining everything you want to know but are too afraid to ask about it — from what this incident could tell us about the future of the economy to the lessons we can take from the 2008 bailouts. What becomes politically possible for the government in terms of financial policy when it comes to shoring up the resources of the elite? And can we imagine these same political possibilities being available to ordinary people? Watch our discussion below:

Matthew gives us a great primer on the conditions that led to the March 10 fall of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank), which had been involved with nearly half of tech companies backed by venture capital. He also helps us understand the significance (and the truth) behind Biden’s claim that what the Fed did for SVB following its failure was not a bailout. How should we assess the admin’s decision to guarantee uninsured deposits — is Biden right that because taxpayer dollars aren’t going into the bank to revive it, we can’t call this a bailout? Or is this a useful framework to think about the government’s decision to take unusual action to shore up a floundering financial institution?

According to Matthew, the idea of a bailout is very much in play here. The guarantee is definitely a “handout” — it’s a strong example of the government taking special measures outside of its usual procedures. This “extraordinary ad-hoc support for individual actors,” it’s worth noting, is limited to providing resources to the lucrative (and clearly turbulent) world of venture capital — but when it comes to extraordinary ad-hoc financial support for working families, look what happened in 2008 — and look how the Biden admin’s biggest promises on debt relief and healthcare access have fallen through. Yet another handout to banks at a time when America’s working class fights for crumbs is a reminder of the power we lack — and that we need to build for ourselves.

Thanks for tuning in. You can listen to this conversation as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and more.