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Illustration: Tiffany Herring\/Axios<\/p>\n
The government's initial strategy, on the weekend that SVB failed, was simply to assert<\/em> that public confidence in the banking system was strong, in hopes that confidence would thereby magically manifest. When that failed, the Plan B comms strategy seemed as though it wasn't entirely thought through.<\/p>\n Why it matters: <\/strong>Every bank in the country, with the possible exception of the ultra-giants sitting on more than $1 trillion in assets, now has depositors worried about the safety of their money. The banks need the government to reassure those depositors \u2014 and the government isn't doing a great job.<\/p>\n The big picture:<\/strong> The comms strategy has been spearheaded by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Fed chair Jay Powell, both of whom are technocrats who lean instinctively and vocationally toward carefully chosen words. <\/p>\n Where it stands: <\/strong>After the initial intervention failed to stanch the outflow of deposits from regional banks, there were three main attempts to reassure depositors. <\/p>\n The catch: <\/strong>These statements were hardly unambiguous. <\/p>\n Between the lines:<\/strong> All of the messages were buried within longer communications that covered a lot of ground; none of them were simple and succinct standalone statements.<\/p>\n The intrigue: <\/strong>The communicator-in-chief, President Joe Biden, has so far said nothing at all on the subject. Neither has the only other elected politician in the executive branch, Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n Our thought bubble, <\/strong>from Axios Communicators' Eleanor Hawkins: Clear communication here would require less in the way of acronyms, jargon, and numbers \u2014 and more in the way of narrative. <\/p>\n\n
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