Like A Wall Street Drone
No one describes a fall from grace like Bob Dylan. In light of SVB and the ensuing drama, perhaps we might ask those same titans of tech banking, "how does it feel?"
"Like A Wall Street Drone"
Once upon a time, you sold subprime,
Leveraged to the nines, corporate climb, didn’t you?
Puts and calls, learned to play ball, the risks appall,
You thought funds were out-bidding you…
You used to brag about,
All the bonuses that were handed out,
Now your bad bets compound,
Now you don’t ski year-round
And you’re lacking any cash for your next deal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To hear feds on the phone?
Reaping the risks you’ve sown?
Like a Wall Street drone
Ahh you’ve banked for the sharpest minds on earth, made millions,
But you really only wagered on interest rates…
Your buddies all taught you how to place bets and get paid
Until unseen, systemic risk detonates
The crypto summer’s lionized,
And the web3 world is quickly glamorized,
Short-term profits are maximized,
Silvergate’s run out of town and eulogized
We ask, should Dodd-Frank have been repealed?
How does it feel? How does it feel?
To sell all you own, with the contagion shown,
Holding long-term loans
Like a Wall Street drone
So when loans need marking down all over town
And Credit Suisse is run by clowns, will FDIC come through?
Assets uninsured, debts are unsecured,
And you want public funds to pay your bills for you?
Young VC herds offer pleas to some old bureaucrats,
Tweeting their thoughts from chic, west coast flats
Frozen funds of aristocrats,
Preserve their native habitats
After espousing their libertine-ish ideals…
How does it feel? How does it feel?
To be public-owned, with an exec team stoned
Like regal lords dethroned
Like a Wall Street drone
Now bank-runs panic markets and all the quarter targets
They’re all tumbling, humbling folks who cannot act afraid
Asserting all will be well,
But you better check that balance sheet, bravado’s just charades!
When SVB disabused
Their depositors of faith, with withdrawals they refused,
Testify before congress, and act confused,
When you’ve got no assets, you’re just watching the news
You’re irrelevant now, you’ve got no insights to reveal
How does it feel? Still kinda surreal?
To hear feds bemoan, the risky bonds you own
And your demise, postpone?
Like a Wall Street drone
Written By: "Weird Ev" Coopersmith & AE Studio
"Like A Rolling Stone"
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone
Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone
Written By: Bob Dylan, June 1965
