Why the Silicon Valley Bank collapse couldn’t have happened in this one state

In Michael Mann’s 1995 movie masterpiece Heat, bank robber Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) explains to panicked bank customers that he has no intention of hurting them: “We’re here for the bank’s money, not your money. Your money is insured by the federal government. You’re not gonna lose a dime.”

As clients at Silicon Valley Bank (including my employer, Vox Media) learned last week, McCauley’s promise isn’t quite true. Deposits at banks and credit unions are indeed insured by the federal government, but only in cases of bank insolvency, and only up to $250,000 per person,...