We were assured banks would ease lending if the Bailout passed.
Afterall, most of their junk gets dumped on the TaxPayer, thus, in theory, would "free up" their sheets to make more aggressive loans and pass on those cheap Fed Rates to business and consumers.
The problem - divesting future losses to Government does nothing to recoup Past Losses already realized.
The hundreds of billions in losses already realized will still have to get recapitalized.
That means banks will continue to lend at a higher spread with tighter standards to recoup those losses already on the books.
So the bailout really just ensures the Big Guys don't fail (they would have, otherwise).
My 2 cents.
Afterall, most of their junk gets dumped on the TaxPayer, thus, in theory, would "free up" their sheets to make more aggressive loans and pass on those cheap Fed Rates to business and consumers.
The problem - divesting future losses to Government does nothing to recoup Past Losses already realized.
The hundreds of billions in losses already realized will still have to get recapitalized.
That means banks will continue to lend at a higher spread with tighter standards to recoup those losses already on the books.
So the bailout really just ensures the Big Guys don't fail (they would have, otherwise).
My 2 cents.