The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
January 26, 2009

Report: Banks Reduce Lending After Receiving $148 Billion from US Gov’t
-----------------------------------------------------------------------



In economic news, the Wall Street Journal reports lending at many of the
nation’s largest banks fell in recent months, even after the government
gave them $148 billion that was intended to help make loans more readily
available. Both Bank of America and Citigroup reduced their lending
despite receiving $45 billion from the government. Duke University
Professor Campbell Harvey said the government’s efforts to jumpstart
lending has failed. Harvey said, “Basically we have dropped a huge
amount of money…and we have nothing to show for what we actually wanted
to happen.” Most banks have refused to say how they have spent the
billions of dollars in handouts. When Congress approved the massive
bailout, it attached nearly no strings to the money, and the Treasury
Department never asked the banks how it would be spent.



.