Banks: Are They Struggling or Scamming Us?

Banks: Are They Struggling or Scamming Us?

By Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation. Posted April 28, 2009.

After all the money and other kinds of help that has been given to banks or extorted from the public, banks still aren't lending enough to make a difference in this troubled economy.

The

Wall Street Journal reports
that the biggest financial institutions "made or refinanced a total of $226.3 billion of loans in October. In February that figure had fallen to $174.2 billion." The only three outfits to make more "loans in February than October were BB&T Corp., a regional bank based in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley; and State Street Corp., a Boston-based company that provides financial services mainly to institutions and wealthy individuals."

You would think that since the banks can borrow money from the government at close to zero-percent interest and lend it at 4 percent to 5 percent, they would be shoving dough out the door into the hands of any vaguely solvent looking passerby, but they're not.

SOURCE: Alternet{ALL THAT IS EVIL WILL BE EXPOSED}