[Wyatt's Torch]

People “can’t get loans” (first of all that’s just false) because of credit overlays the banks are placing above and beyond the normal market restrictions because they are afraid of being prosecuted by DOJ if the loans go bad. I heard that over and over and over the last 3 years at housing conferences.

I will always disagree on TARP (the original not the porked out Congress version). I think it saved an epic disaster. Far more than mere “disruption”.

[1010RD]

Small business loan approval rates at big banks reached a post-recession high for the fourth consecutive month, according to the September 2014 Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM, a monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2Credit.com. Small business loan approval rates at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) rose to 20.6% in September from 20.4% in August.

Note bene: "post recession high", but only for 4 months. The low was so low you'd expect some improvement. The small businesses I talk to, anecdotal, cannot get credit. You can blame Democrat policies and I completely agree, but you cannot say that the Fed isn't mixing up risk/return with low interest rates.

[1010RD]

I’m open-minded. What would have happened in the absence of TARP (the original not the porked out Congress version) or any Fed intervention? Walk me through it. Maybe I’m not seeing it correctly.