In today's Financial Times, David Pilling gives a good overview of how the "dead hand" has returned to American economic policy:
Much of the banks’ money has been lent not to small private enterprises, but to big [state-supported financial institutions], many of which do not really need the cash. Some are putting loans straight back into the bank. Much is leaking out into real estate and equity investments, creating concerns about asset bubbles. If, as many suspect, the rash of lending eventually leads to a leap in non-performing loans, most banks probably expect the state to wipe the slate clean.
But oops, I made a mistake. Find out after the jump...
Pilling isn't talking about the U.S. at all. That paragraph is meant to describe the People's Republic of China. My only edit was that I changed "big state conglomerates" from Pilling's original to "big state-supported financial institutions."
Muser of NM @ Oct 15, 2009 21:20:03 PM