In 1980, the U.S. government increased Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) deposit insurance coverage from $40,000 to $100,000. What followed was the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s.

With banks having this large of a taxpayer-funded backstop, reckless risk-taking became the norm, while bank monitoring by larger, more sophisticated depositors went by the wayside. By the end, the crisis marked the worst widespread bank failures since the Great Depression.

Now, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, history could be repeating itself.

Last month, Senators Angela Alsobrooks, D-Maryland, and Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, introduced S.2999, the Main Street Depositor Protection Act. This would increase FDIC deposit insurance for non-interest-bearing business transacti

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