The Week-end Stock Pot Watch, Thursday, November 28th-December 1st. Holiday Edition!

[Demeter]

60. Christmas Time on Wall Street by MIKE WHITNEY

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/11/27/christmas-time-on-wall-street/

Remember how Quantitative Easing was going to “get the banks lending again”?

Well, it hasn’t worked that way. In fact, after 4 years of zero rates and $3 trillion in monetary pump-priming, “banks are lending less to small businesses and consumers than before the financial crisis”. (International Business Times)

But how can that be, you ask, after all, didn’t the banks just report record profits in the Third Quarter?

Yep, they sure did. $40 billion-worth. But the bulk of that dough was raked off their gaming operations, you know, all the dodgy activities that Dodd-Frank regulations were going to stop, but never did. As far as lending to households and small businesses, that’s been a non-starter from the get-go. Check this out from the IBT:

“Small business loans… decreased in 2012 from 2011. … there was $588 billion in small business loans outstanding in June 2012, 3.1 percent less than at the end of 2011.” (“Banks Have Received $2.3 Trillion In Quantitative Easing But Are Lending Less To Small Businesses And Consumers Than Before The Financial Crisis“, International Business Times )

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