In my column today, I posed the question of whether the Fed’s infusion of cash, and near-zero interest rates were inspiring bank lending to businesses. On the basis of the Fed’s quarterly interviews with loan officers, I concluded that its measures had not. Today, there is further evidence – from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) quarterly report on bank practices. According to the FDIC, commercial and industrial loans declined by 6.5 percent from the second to third quarter of 2009 and by a whopping 15.1 percent from the third quarter of 2008. That suggests, again, that the normal processes of recovery are still not working and that the government needs to intervene – not through monetary but fiscal policy.
John B. Judis is the author of The Politics of Our Time: Populism, Nationalism and Socialism and, with Ruy Teixeira, the forthcoming Where Have All the Democrats Gone?